There is a saying that goes: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
This quote, attributed to Edmund Burke, was included in John F Kennedy’s speech in 1961. Apparently, Burke didn’t say it, but it still makes a lot of sense.
There is also an earlier form of this saying by John Stuart Mill, who said in 1867: “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”
I believe this is where we are in the year 2020, not just in South Africa, but across the world. And more specifically, right here at home in Boksburg.
It is time for those who still harbour a sense of moral goodness to be counted.
We all know there is plenty of evil, corruption and chaos in the world. It is inevitable. We are living in a fantasy world if we think things will change drastically for the better.
The tragedy is not the existence of darkness per se, but rather that those who are good do nothing about it.
Martin Luther King Jr said in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
The question, therefore, is while we know South Africa and Boksburg face all kinds of evil and darkness, are we going to exacerbate the problem or are we rather going to shine a light of goodness?
After all, violence only begets violence, and yes, darkness will remain if we choose a dark road of moral disposition.
Many will say ‘but surely there is nothing one can do’, which is not correct. Every act of light, no matter how small or minuscule, is infectious for the good.
The problem is, for so long we regard the darkness as too great or overwhelming, so we would rather do nothing.
Isn’t this the case, for example, what happened in the 2019 national elections? Many decided not to vote because they regarded the process as useless. And so in the process, we highlighted the reality that if good people do nothing then evil shall continue to triumph.
Yes, load-shedding will continue in South Africa, and it will continue to affect every citizen of Boksburg, as well as businesses.
Yes, homes will be broken into, sadly, and people still live in fear. This is a reality. We are ultimately not yet enjoying the liberating Utopian dream of Sir Thomas More.
Yes, potholes will still haunt us, taxis will still get our blood pumping, and service-delivery woes will not magically correct themselves.
The year 2020 is already threatening a cloud of such darkness as a baby, not even a year old, was shot dead in Boksburg in a shoot-out between rival gangs. Yes, the actions of the killers were most vile and cruel, but such is the nature of any crime – selfish and void of moral value.
Yet in the midst of the continuing chaos in a country suffocating economically, we need to let the light shine.
We can do so simply by changing our attitude and our mindset. We can do so by choosing tolerance and love instead of hate, hope instead of despair, and yes, light instead of darkness.
It simply begins by the way we treat other people, which should be with dignity, the way we act and the way we react. It begins with simple actions, such as smiling, greeting people, even strangers and believing that goodness can triumph.
It reminds me of the 90/10 principle, which was popularised by Stephen Covey. It states that 10 per cent of life is made up of what happens to you and 90 per cent is determined by how you react.
So we truly have no control over 10 per cent of what happens to us. Thus, in the 90 per cent, we need to decide if we are going to the let shine or add fuel to the darkness.
Anne Frank, one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, said the following: “Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”
So yes, let us choose to be that single candle, for it holds great power, and where light shines, darkness cannot remain.
