Before It’s Too Late

“It is strange that we didn’t even notice the moment we lost everything. We didn’t start the fight for our beliefs when it was possible. Now we can do nothing. We can only watch silently as everything is falling apart.”

These words could have been used to describe the ascent of Nazi Germany, but they were actually said recently by a prominent (but anonymous) Russian who was lamenting the fact that his country had let slip its best opportunity to create a liberal democracy following the end of the Cold War and was now facing life under the autocratic rule of the virtual dictator, Vladimir Putin.

As I read the words in a 4/2/18 article in Time magazine, I thought about what is going on in our country. Venomous attacks on the media. Attacks on our judicial system. Attacks on almost every government institution. Attacks on democracy. Attacks on truth itself. Calls for nativisim and racism. Attacks upon science and intellectuals. Tribalism at its worst. The words made me wonder if it is already too late for us. Let us not look back and be forced to say, “We didn’t start the fight for our beliefs when it was possible.”