Moral choices

Moral choices are hard. They test our character. Capitulation to immorality, sanctioning cruelty, violence and discrimination is not something you do once every while, when the horror becomes ‘too big to ignore.’

It is something we must commit to at the inception of violence. 

I have written dozens of times about Little Atrocities. The very first microtransgressions that we overlook pave the way for the next, slightly bigger atrocity.

It is easier to nip the atrocity in the bud when it is small. To call it and say – not on my watch. To call it for what it is. Clearly and without ambiguity. 

But this is rare. So rare that the overwhelming drama on the human stage, in current and historical times, is because we did not do this. 

We ignored the first act of violence against us at home. We stepped over the person who treated us as utilities to their succession, the very first time. We ignore the lies spoken by our ‘leaders.’ Until it is nothing but lies, and our institutions are so eroded in trust, cynicism is normal.

We failed to call out, by name, the action that seeds a bigger action that seeds horror. 

Moral choices are hard. They ask us to speak, when speaking may cost us our career, our livelihood. Our reputation.

Yet our failure to speak against the first little atrocity comes at a price. The first price is our own health and wellbeing. Our biology records the transgression. Stress amplifies. The field becomes toxic. This spreads – infecting anyone around us who jumps into the fray of drama.

We get the world we have because of an individual and collective failure to take the moral path. 

To dig deep into courage. 

When we find ourselves in a position surrounded by backstabbing, gaslighting, and endless drama, we might ask what was the first action that we failed to address? How do we address it now? When is enough enough?

Some parts of the world are stirring to find their moral courage. This is good. Yet the price to reach this point is heartbreaking, overwhelming. 

If we want a world with a future for Earth and all her children, we must begin, now, today, to speak and stand against Little Atrocities and big. 

And acknowledge that when we do not, we are part of the immorality.

Photo July 18th 2025, Article published July 22nd 2025