Now is the time to speak. Wise man Solomon said, "To everything there is a season ... a time to be silent and a time to speak." (Ecclestiastes 3:1,7.

    Although silence can be a virtue; it is a betrayal of goodness and what it means to be human when to speak is the appropriate thing to do. Do not let anybody tell you that your speaking is not valuable. Speaking is action which often causes people to respond positively and sometimes it produces change for good. Ask yourself, "Why is it that some people, which may include those in power, want you to be silent..and let them do the talking and you do the listening?"
   The Bible has much to say about "saying." As a matter of fact, it was God's speaking that began Creation - bringing into existence something out of no-thing - when he said, "Let there be light," And for seven days He continued speaking  everything there is into existence. (Genesis, Chapter 1_).

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus said, "When you pray say 'Our Father ..., etc. Matthew 6.9)
We are admonished to "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Psalm 107:2.

Take time to Love
Take time to say to another person "I love you."
It was my awareness of this need that inspired me to write this prose poem:
People so seldom say I Love you,
And oh how these three words, "I love you."
touch the heart as nothing else can do.
And then it's too late or love goes away...
far, far a way. So when I tell you  I love you
It doesn't mean that I know you'll never leave me,
Only that I wish you didn't have to go.
And before it's too late or love goes away
Let me tell you now from the depth of my heart.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
(From "The Saint Troubadour" by Uriah J. Fields
p. 185).

Our Time to Speak
Now is the time - our time - to speak out regarding evils committed in the past and their legacies that negatively impact people today. They include  slavery, racial segregation, Jim Crow, and disfranchisement of American of African descent. Now is the time to speak out about the need to remove Confederate statues that honor dishonorable men.. Because there were those who dared to speak out about the evil of Confederate statues a number of them have been removed. But voices of the redeemed must continue to speak out until every Confederate statue and every name of a Confederate person are removed from pubic places and replaced with names of honorable people who believed or believe in justice for all. Here are some people of the past who believed in justice for all.

William Lloyd Garrison, Abolitionist - Caucasian - white viz pink - person, declared "I will be heard," said,
I will be as harsh as truth, and  uncompromising as justice... I am in earnest, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard!

Martin Luther King, Jr., said:
I came to the conclusion there is an existential moment in your life when you must decide to speak for yourself, nobody else can speak for you. 

President John F. Kennedy said:
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great crisis, maintain their neutrality
.
Let us, people of the now,  in our time, emulate and heed the examples of these three men.

In this regard, there is another person worthy of our consideration:
Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran pastor in Germany. A foe of Adolf Hilter who spent last seven year of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Hear him:
First they came after the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out -- becauae I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak out.

You do not have to face the challenges of life posed by evil people alone, providing you respond to the needs of those who are unjustly treated, especially those burdened by the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination. But don't wait until it's too late ... and  you will have to say these words as did Martin Niemoller, "Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak out."  This can happen to you. But will you let it happen to you?

Copyright 2021 by Uriah J. Fields