Speaking Truth to Power

Speaking truth is something that is supposedly valued by culture. We try to teach our children to not lie but once we all enter the real world we find that truth is something that we categorize. We withhold parts of the information, we ignore things, we turn blind eyes to situations.This often common in many workplaces. You don't say the truth because you do have to fear losing your job or suffering other consequences. And for those of you who want to argue that people can't do that because that's retribution, let me just say people find unofficial ways of doing it. So when someone comes along and speaks truth to power it's generally not met with positivity. So with all of the consequences why speak truth to power? Because if you follow beliefs of most faith traditions then it is your job as a person in the universe to speak truth to the powers that oppress or commit wrongs. It is our job to question those who hold power over others. If no one ever said anything to power then we'd all be screwed. Think of Gandhi, Bonhoeffer, Jesus. Power isn't a bad thing but it is when it is abused. That's why we speak truth to power to prevent abuse of power, to bring about the changes needed in the world. It's not easy or the popular thing to do but it's much needed.