Taking After Switzerland

Quote: If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
Author: Bishop Desmond Tutu

That's a pretty strong statement. After all the natural inclination is to not be in the middle and to want to be neutral. But there is also a great deal of truth in that statement. If we are neutral then we are just washing our hands of it and refusing to get our hands dirty to help out.

I can't count how many people have said that I got a raw deal and that it shouldn't have happened and then turn around and say that they don't have an issue with this person. So does that mean that what they did to me was right?

I completely understand the response though... I did the same thing for a long time. I sat on the sidelines and watched and basically said, "It's not me and it's not my war." And now look at where I am. I chose to be neutral and not do anything. Then suddenly I was in the cross hairs and wishing that I had taken a stand in the past and not taken on the role of Switzerland in the past. So remember that the next time you stand on the sidelines and watch a poor, little mouse get crushed by an elephant.