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We have become accustomed to thinking there is little we can do, but there is power in our collective voices. But too often, we become discouraged and resigned to doing the minimum or nothing at all.

While the aberrant speech and behavior of some leaders seem to dominate the airways, we must remember that they are in the minority. They may represent a sizable minority, but they are still just that: a minority.

So why should we allow them to consume our thoughts or cause us to resort to a defeatist mindset or behavior? We must never forget there is power in our collective voices and efforts.

Even amid divisions, let us shift our focus more on who we are, what we believe, and the values we share. Many of the things we do to reevaluate and recharge on a personal level are also applicable as we seek to be more effective on a public level.

Sometimes the needed motivation can begin by recalling the wise words of some of the greats whom we have encountered in our personal lives or through the annals of history.

There is Power in Our Collective Voices
(Photo by Diamond Dogs/iStock Images)

There is an often-misquoted phrase attributed to Edmund Burke, the eighteenth-century Irish statesman: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

However, I think what he actually said is more meaningful and applicable for us today: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” There is power in our collective voices if we only use it.

As disgusting or as bad as the political landscape and some of the political leaders seem today, we as a nation have endured and overcome worse.

As in centuries and generations past, how it all turns out in the coming months and years will be left up to us — the majority of Americans who still believe in the good that is America and are determined to preserve and continue to work to make it better.

This is a time for deeper reflections and new conversations. And we cannot forget there is power in our collective voices.

We are in a different time, with different challenges that could result in different outcomes — outcomes that could change many of the things we take for granted.

Do you ever think that the celebrations, traditions and holidays we hold dear could be at risk? Do you think our American way of life will always be there?

Lest we forget. Few things are sacrosanct.

Few societies survive indefinitely when the majority of its citizens remain silent. There is power in our collective voices, but we must bother to exercise it.

Changing the conversation, exercising our individual and collective power, and aligning our voices of reasons and actions with others of like-minded beliefs and values will be what will rule our near-term and long-term future.

These options are there for our claiming and reclaiming.

Will we?

Excerpts in this article first appeared in the Missouri Independent.

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