When Have You Complied Or Obeyed When You Didn't Want To?

In jail, they pull one of the women out of our group, lock her up someplace worse

so that we see their power

so that we become fearful

they pick the woman who makes us most uncomfortable, who is most loud and angry, least respectable, who least fits in so that we do not really want to extend ourselves, to risk ourselves for her

so that we can justify not risking ourselves, telling ourselves that there is nothing we can do (even though all of us are here in jail because we will not accept that there is nothing we can do)

so that we don't try to do anything, telling ourselves

we don't have enough information to act

that it is not yet the right time to act

that if we try to act we will make the situation worse

that it is better to let someone else (our lawyers, our experts) act for us

that she may have done something to deserve it

that she created her own situation.

~Truth or Dare by Starhawk