January 21, 2026
I’m not at all sure just
exactly when it all changed. I would have thought that if that was going to
happen, we’d notice it. I’d notice it, you’d notice it, everybody would notice
it. Then somebody would blow a whistle, and some referee would step up, step
out, and throw a flag on the play. Folks would be penalized on every side,
then, situation fixed, play would resume. It would have been nipped in the bud.
It should have been
nipped in the bud.
Growing up, working your way
from the teenage years toward that coveted, holy grail of individual
evolution—aka adulthood—there were several things you were careful about. You
wanted to be liked but you also wanted to be respected. You wanted to make a
good impression. Remember that? You were cognisant of the weight of certain
moments. You knew enough to take your time, prepare, check yourself in the
mirror. The introduction. The interview. A shot at having a job. Those moments,
the closer you got to being “grown up”, mattered even more, and you were of
sober mind going forward—even if you were nervous as hell.
And going forward there were a
number of mistakes that you could make if you weren’t careful. Mistakes you knew
existed and that you were already determined not to make. That you promised
yourself you would avoid.
Number one on the list of what
to absolutely avoid? Lying. You didn’t want to be known as a liar.
You wanted to be trustworthy,
you wanted to be honest and have a good reputation, and being a liar would have
been the biggest black mark of all black marks that you could earn.
When exactly did we, as a
society, stop caring about honesty? It must have been one of those slippery slope
things we were warned about growing up and somehow missed as we were sliding.
A damn shame, that. If you don’t
believe me, just look around at what we’re living with in the wider world around
us. Look at the characters that fill our news screens each night.
I have always believed in the
power of accumulative personal action. I’ve written countless essays on the
topic. I once mused on how busy our local grocery is almost every day, and I
spoke of the existence in that store of a big empty box that awaits donations
to the local food bank. I pointed out that sometimes we don’t give because we
think the small amount of the donation we can afford won’t make a difference.
And then I mused that there were likely more than a hundred people going into
that store every day. And if every time someone going into the store chose one
item and put it in that big ol’ empty box for the food bank, it wouldn’t be
empty for long. In fact, I think it would be filled each day.
There’s a tragedy in another town,
another state, or even another country. We could give 5 dollars, but who needs
5 dollars? That won’t make a difference. But what if you are one of a thousand
such people in your state or your province? Why, your 5 dollars becomes 5
thousand dollars! Or what if there are one hundred thousand such people in your
country – and there are! Holy crap, that’s half a million dollars! Not so
small, really, is it?
We can hope for things to get
better in the wider world, for folks to be more honest and to be kinder. To
stop lying. To stop letting lying liars who lie get away with it. But we can do
one more thing. We can, each of us, do our best to be the example that others
can live by. We can be kind, and honest. And when we see someone who needs our
help, we can reach out. We can show respect for the law by behaving lawfully,
and our distain for abuse of power by speaking out when we see it in action.
Just as it is never the wrong
time to do the right thing, it’s never too late to begin to do the right thing,
either.
By the simple act of standing
up and saying no, we encourage others to do the same thing. And before you know
it, a movement has been born. The truth is the truth now, as it has always and ever
been, and here it is:
We are the heroes that we have
been waiting for.
Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
