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Essay: "Taking a Stand"

by Keith Reese
Stand Gone Way

History is replete with illustrious characters that have taken a stand by correcting flaws in politics, business, academics, etc. There is always are always costs and consequences to effect a change. Large or small, taking stands of varying dimensions, will undoubtedly drain your energies to the max. When I took a stand for the first time in my life, it wasn't for civil rights, or to protest an unrighteous war, it was to oust bullies, from life. Accumulation of anger and time caused me to revolt successfully against harassing bullies. In so doing, my revolting momentum became my undoing. The power of courage that had saved me would destroy me. In destroying me the bullies, I became an antinomian myself. In short, I had changed into a monster. In a lifetime, people had accosted and assaulted me and showed no mercy, Soon, I would be committing the acts against others, I once deplored. The process happened in my life juvenesque years and followed me into adulthood. I no longer knew who I was. The laws of city jungles had shaped me. I was left for police stations, court rooms and prison. As a youth, no one was a mentor or guardian to me, I was left to my own devices. Society had stuck its blows against me in myriad forms and ways. I became misanthropic and xenophobic, in response to society's oppression. Now, being more gentle and genteel I wished I had taken a stand for the weak and meek. My stand had gone awry in the past, taking me into a backward direction. My advice to others; take a stand for justice and righteousness.

Keith Reese