3. Act Despite the Fear
“The essence of Burma’s liberation struggle” Aung San Suu Kyi, once said is, ”courage, courage renewed repeatedly under harsh unremitting pressure, or what we might call, grace under pressure.” In paraphrasing her thoughts on the meaning of courage she states. It takes courage to lift one’s eyes up from their own needs and to see the truth of the world around them — a truth, such as Burma, where there are no human rights.
It takes even more courage not to turn away, to make excuses for noninvolvement, or to be corrupted by fear. It takes courage to feel the truth, to feel one’s conscience. Because once you do you must enter your integrity, your dignity, your worth as a human being.
You must engage your fundamental purpose for being alive. And if you are to act on behalf of your conscience —you must confront your fear, or confront your apathy, or confront your indifference. You can’t just expect to sit idly by and have freedom handed to you. Liberation will not be achieved this way.
Our revolution will be successful only when everyone realizes they can do their part. In this regard, courage is three-fold: The courage to see. The courage to feel. And the courage to act. If all three domains are realized our revolution will succeed. And for freedom to become a liberating source of power we must, as Aung San Suu Kyi counsels, learn to “act despite the fear.”