Who would you have been?

We look back in history and often think one of two things.  One, "What an amazing and brave person who did so much for..." or two, "I can't believe that anyone would do something like that, it's so..."  Sometimes we think "I would/could never do that."  Is that true?  I could not help but wonder, who would I have been. Am I who I am today because there is a basic part of me which is unchanging.  Or am I a product of my environment?  I read this quote by Bruce Barton that says, 

 "If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world it will come through the expression of your own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature." 

Is that spark of divinity infinite?  Would Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Susan B. Anthony, or Martin Luther King have been who they were if they had been born at a different time or place?  Well, I believe that even if they had not had the issues they had to deal with, they would have been fighters for other things.  They would have stood for something whether great or small.  Yes, we are a product of our environments, but that is not all of who we are.  Look at this quote by Susan B. Anthony,  does it sound like she is just the person she was suppose to be for the time she was born in? 

"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences." 

No one wants to be persecuted, friendless, or hurt.  But there are people out there who sees things that are not right, things that needs fixing, and they are unable and unwilling to just do nothing. Could we have seen an injustice and done nothing?  Who are we?  Who am I?  It's so easy to look back and think, "I am not that brave" or "I am not that cruel."

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't believe that Hitler and Stalin were meant to be cruel people.  I believe that they had strong personalities that were willing to change things.  Unfortunately for the world, they always made the wrong decisions.  They used that power to hurt, submit, and commit acts of such cruelty that I cringe to think of them.  My heart sorrows for those who experienced the results of those wrong and weak decisions.  But it was a series of small erroneous choices that lead to the hate and violence felt by a large group of people.  Who are we and who are we willing to be?  What decisions would we have made?  What decisions have we made?

We don't necessarily have to change the world...at least not at first.  But we can change the lives of a few people around us.  If we died today, what would people say about us?  What would our friends and family?  We can change their lives for the better.  Again I ask, who are we willing to be?  Our core personalities do not change, but we can change how our personalities are directed outwards.  I am so hesitant and unassertive sometimes that I wonder at the decisions I would have made in the place of Martin Luther King.  What decisions could I make today if I am faced with a major issue?  I don't know and because of that I need to start working on the daily things I do/say now so that in the future, I can answer this question unhesitatingly.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."  Edmund Burke