Before proceeding, the quotations around “enlightened” point to an alternative meaning that needs to be explained. I’m not speaking of an existential nirvana, not of a harrowing brush with death, and not of the dire need to lose surplus pounds. No, this condition shares nothing with the typical definitions:
Enlightened(the new-age variant): Lacking the confidence and/or moral fiber to judge, review, and critique the world, people, and situations around you, thereby rendering you 1. Complacent 2. Stagnant 3. Dumb
EXAMPLE: His views are pretty old-school, but you can’t blame him for how he was raised. Don’t get upset by it or try to change him.
Wrong. You see, in the above example, the speaker is attempting to disguise a disgusting apathy and lack of care with the word “respect.” What the world seems to have forgotten is that respect DOES NOT MEAN bowing down, subverting yourself in an attempt to bend over backwards out of fear that someone will call you hateful. Respect is something earned and deserved, not manifested within yourself the strip away your soul for another,
To further illustrate why this sucks, consider this.
48 years ago, four black students right here in North Carolina were displeased with the racial inequalities of the time. Feeling the need to do something about it, they started a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro. History remembers this because it was a defining moment in the civil rights movement. But think for a moment: did these brave and righteous crusaders think too much about, “Well, maybe society is right. Maybe we should be forced to stand and eat!” They did no such thing. I strongly believe that these students did what they knew to be right, forgetting whatever social stigmas might be placed upon them.
Society cannot progress if we remain too scared to challenge the old rules, challenge our fellow brothers, and challenge ourselves to do what is right. Wrong will always prevail over good so long as the good do nothing. For the love of life, do SOMETHING.
