Atticus Finch and Tides of Change
They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus
Re-reading Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird has me thinking about a few things. For one, the world can use more men like Atticus Finch. Atticus strikes me as a true hero, a man who understands what it means to have integrity. His sense of justice includes being true to his conscience and what it means to do the right thing. Even when the right thing seems to go against the cultural wave. This has to be what he means when he informs his children that his conscience is not controlled by "majority rule".
As Atticus's choice to defend Tom Robinson brings change to the "tired old town" of Maycomb, theCivil Rights Movement that was occuring during the time this novel was written brought a great deal of change to the United States. It was a movement to bring equality for ALL people, and many lives were changed as a result of a number of determined individuals refusing to stay silent. Society was witness to a kind of courage that many of us may only strive to obtain. For as Atticus tells his children, when "you know you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyways" ( ), you're acting on a real courage. The kind of courage that impassions a young woman to refuse to move to the back of the bus. Or a privileged white lawyer in a small southern town to defend a group of black teens over a crime they did not commit.
Unfortuneately, much of what was hoped for during this tumultuous period in history is yet to be fully realized. Racism, for example, still exists. If not, why would it be so sensational that one of the wealthiest and supposedly most progressive nations in the world may be about to have its first black president.
How many of us have been a bystander at times we might now regret? How will you know when it's time to "step up" and do the right thing?
Re-reading Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird has me thinking about a few things. For one, the world can use more men like Atticus Finch. Atticus strikes me as a true hero, a man who understands what it means to have integrity. His sense of justice includes being true to his conscience and what it means to do the right thing. Even when the right thing seems to go against the cultural wave. This has to be what he means when he informs his children that his conscience is not controlled by "majority rule".
As Atticus's choice to defend Tom Robinson brings change to the "tired old town" of Maycomb, theCivil Rights Movement that was occuring during the time this novel was written brought a great deal of change to the United States. It was a movement to bring equality for ALL people, and many lives were changed as a result of a number of determined individuals refusing to stay silent. Society was witness to a kind of courage that many of us may only strive to obtain. For as Atticus tells his children, when "you know you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyways" ( ), you're acting on a real courage. The kind of courage that impassions a young woman to refuse to move to the back of the bus. Or a privileged white lawyer in a small southern town to defend a group of black teens over a crime they did not commit.
Unfortuneately, much of what was hoped for during this tumultuous period in history is yet to be fully realized. Racism, for example, still exists. If not, why would it be so sensational that one of the wealthiest and supposedly most progressive nations in the world may be about to have its first black president.
How many of us have been a bystander at times we might now regret? How will you know when it's time to "step up" and do the right thing?
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