Lex Anteinternet: A note on bravery

Thursday, January 21, 2021

A note on bravery

St. Maximilian Kolbe, whose devotion to the truth took him to his death.

Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.

St. Vincent de Paul

It is not brave to go along with the majority view of your fellows, even if it is not the majority view, simply because others hold it.

This comes to mind because of recent events.

The bravest person is the one who stands for an unpopular opinion, as they believe it true, even if they wish it were not. A person who stands for the truth, because it is the truth, even if it the truth doesn't serve his own personal interests or desires is the most admirable of all.

In other words, it takes bravery to be in the position of Elizabeth Cheney. But not just her. Those numerous people who speak up when they know that its not popular where they are, in their inner circle, are brave.

Truth always ends by victory; it is not unassailable, but invincible.
St. Ignatius of Loyola

Nearly everyone claims that as their belief, but very, very few act upon it if it is their belief. Most state an unpopular opinion only if its unpopular outside of their circle, but not within it, no matter what they really believe. There's no bravery at all, no matter how much it may be self declared, by being part of a group that holds an unpopular opinion, if all your fellows hold it.

Many will mold their beliefs to fit their circle, so that in espousing them, not matter what their doubts, they aren't really lying, as they've conformed their opinion to that of their group. That's certainly not bravery, no matter how portrayed. The Nazis, for example, portrayed themselves as brave, where as history has proven most who were in the Nazi Party to be cowards. They simply went along.

Worse yet are those who know the truth, and believe in it, but state a lie to serve their own personal interests. They're not self deluded, but have really sold their souls.

In other words, our junior Senator has not been brave. Not just her, however, but people who are riding an "unpopular" belief where they are because that unpopularity isn't unpopular in that locality, aren't being brave.

Which gets us back to the first point.

Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life?

Mark, Chapter 8.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

We hope you'll feel moved to comment as well. While we moderate every comment, so as to weed out Spam, we greatly appreciate the comments where they are offered, and hope to see more.

Thank you for stopping in!