086.(LV3-2)Disobedience-Ministory

Publish Date: December 3, 2006
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“Law never made men more just; and, by means of their respect for
it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A
common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you
may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, privates and all,
marching in admirable order over hills to the wars, against their
wills, indeed, against their common sense and consciences. They
have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are con-
cerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men
at all? Or small movable forts, at the service of some unscrupulous
man in power?
The mass of men serve the State thus, not as men mainly, but as
machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army. In most
cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the
moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth
and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will
serve the purpose as well. Such people command no more respect
than men of straw, or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of
worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these are commonly
considered good citizens.”
-- Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience)
Many of the abominable problems in the world are the result of obe-
dience. In our personal lives, in the media, we cry and moan and
blame "our leaders" for the problems of the world. We shift responsi-
bility to them. But are they solely responsible? What about the thou-
sands and millions who are actually carrying out their orders?
These people are the ones actually doing the terrible things that their
leaders want done. These people have abandoned their conscience
and have abandoned their responsibility.
Can such people be considered adult human beings at all; or are they
still children, or dogs-- dutifully obeying their master-parent?
Think of the American soldiers currently in Iraq. In the end, it is not
George Bush who is pulling the trigger or dropping the bombs or tor-
turing the prisoners. He merely gives the orders- orders which no
particular man or woman must follow. For while they might be dis-
charged or put in prison for refusing an order, no one will be hurt or
killed for doing so.
Isn't Thoreau correct? Aren't our true heroes the ones who disobey
unjust laws? Aren't the true heroes the ones who follow their con-
science? Here in America, it is our rebels who are our historical
heroes- those who refused to support injustice: Martin Luther King,
the heroes of the American revolution, John Brown, Malcolm X, Susan
B. Anthony, Vietnam War resistors....
In the present, such people are always condemned. They are
attacked, called unpatriotic, imprisoned, and vilified. Yet history is
usually kind to such people, and harsh to the unjust. In the 1950s,
Martin Luther King was vilified as a radical. Today, he is celebrated
as a hero, while the authorities he resisted are now viewed as the
worst kind of scum.
Thoreau, and later Gandhi and Martin Luther King, all believed that
individual conscience was more just and powerful than law. All three
encouraged people to break unjust laws; and to instead have
respect for what is good, right, true, and just. Though all three men
are now dead, their message is as important today as it was during
their lifetime.
“Thoreau was a great writer, philosopher, poet, and a most practical
man, that is, he taught nothing he was not prepared to practice in
himself. He was one of the greatest and most moral men America has
produced.”
--Mohandas Gandhi
Learn More:
Civil Disobedience (Wiki Article)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)
Civil Disobedience Essay (Full Text)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)
The Martin Luther King Center
https://www.thekingcenter.org/