What if one person's courage could ignite a movement? Our latest episode brings you a heartfelt conversation with Sarah, a young woman who faced bullying and racism head-on during her elementary school years. Through her tale, we uncover how she managed to draw strength from the legacy of our nation's founders and the sacrifices of countless individuals committed to our country’s core values. Sarah’s journey from feeling like a victim to becoming a beacon of empowerment is both inspiring and a powerful reminder of how one person's bravery can spark collective change.
We also explore the critical importance of questioning authority and always seeking the truth, even when it isn't the popular choice. Reflecting on our careers spent unearthing injustices, we discuss how continuous questioning is essential for accountability and justice. This episode promises to arm you with the courage to stand up for what is right and to challenge those in power—essential steps towards fostering a just and empowered society. Tune in and find out how these principles can make a difference in your life and the world around you.
What if one person's courage could ignite a movement? Our latest episode brings you a heartfelt conversation with Sarah, a young woman who faced bullying and racism head-on during her elementary school years. Through her tale, we uncover how she managed to draw strength from the legacy of our nation's founders and the sacrifices of countless individuals committed to our country’s core values. Sarah’s journey from feeling like a victim to becoming a beacon of empowerment is both inspiring and a powerful reminder of how one person's bravery can spark collective change.
We also explore the critical importance of questioning authority and always seeking the truth, even when it isn't the popular choice. Reflecting on our careers spent unearthing injustices, we discuss how continuous questioning is essential for accountability and justice. This episode promises to arm you with the courage to stand up for what is right and to challenge those in power—essential steps towards fostering a just and empowered society. Tune in and find out how these principles can make a difference in your life and the world around you.
Welcome back to Stand. You're with Kelly and Josiah Chewbacca and today we're talking with our youth panel about where they find the courage to stand in the face of social pressure against what they believe. So, sarah, let's pick up that conversation. Where do you find your strength to stand for what you believe?
Speaker 2:
You know, I feel like we owe it to our founders of our country. We owe it to everyone that's fought, whether it's physically in the military or through politics, or through what they've done in society. We owe it to them, we owe it to our families and we owe it to posterity. You know, god has gifted us with this wonderful country, with wonderful values and so much potential. The potential is not gone by any means, and I believe that we have it in ourselves, this responsibility to pass it on to these future generations. They deserve to have everything that we have been gifted and more, and our country deserves to develop into more. It may feel tense right now, but that does not mean that we should not stand up, that we should not unite as communities and really come together to figure out how we're going to move forward, because ending such a wonderful, god-given country as this isn't an answer.
Speaker 1:
Sarah, I love how you live out your values, that you value our military, and so then you've pursued military service and you've done that with with great resolution. I love that about you. So I want to ask you you know we're doing this show about making courage contagious. It's something that's a high value for our family, but it's not something that, as a parent, I can force on a kid. So what has happened for you? Why is courage important to you and how do you stand for what you believe?
Speaker 3:
For me it would have to go probably back to elementary school. As you know, denali and I both faced a lot of racism and bullying and harassment in elementary school by many members of the Black community because we were quote-unquote white, although ironically, our genetic ties to Africa were stronger and much more recent than any of theirs.
Speaker 3:
And unfortunately, throughout all of that time I was really without a protector or a defender or anyone who would stand up for me, and so I kind of started to play into the victim mindset that I wouldn't be able to do anything and that started to allow bullies to just walk all over me all the way through elementary school and then even into middle school.
Speaker 3:
And one day I just something kind of snapped or changed, or this realization just popped into my head where I was like I'm done, waiting for someone else to come stand up for me and do the right thing. I got to be the person to stand up for myself. So I started standing up for myself, with success, and I was like, okay, wow, so this is what it's like to be empowered and to not live under a victim mindset. And then, looking back, I started to realize, hey, wait, you know I can stand up for myself and that's all well and good now, but who's who's helping little Josiah? Because little Josiah is still, he's still helpless. So all these other people out there because I know there are many, many of them like me, because, frankly, no one can stand up to the mob when you look at the sheer size of the opponents people will face when they stand for anything moral or just. In this country, it's a big mob who's going to go help them. The way I see it, I don't have the luxury of being afraid.
Speaker 1:
I like that. I was really surprised in those years how we would take legitimate concerns and complaints to teacher, and then teachers, and then administration, and then principals, and nothing would happen. And I think that that's a little bit like what it's like operating in society today you elevate the concern to the appropriate person with authority who should do what's right, and then they don't. But I also remember and you all might've seen this like on social media in a meme or something that picture where you know the person in authority with the bullwhip comes and then they tell the whole crowd to get down and everybody bends down except the one person who takes the stand, and then, and then the next scene is that one person that inspires a couple more people to then take a stand and then, because now a couple of people are taking a stand, the whole crowd stands up and then the person abusing their authority with the bullwhip then has to kneel down. And that's the whole point of taking a stand. When you're the one person standing in the crowd against the person who's abusing their authority with a bullet, it does I mean you pay the price, or, as one of our former guests said and I thought it was really, really well said. She said I'm tired of other people appropriating my courage. You stand behind me while I take a stand and appropriate my courage, and I bear all the brunt, I take all the sacrifice and pay the price.
Speaker 1:
On the other hand, if none of us take a stand, then, as Reagan was reading, the list just gets implemented and everything just devolves until the people in power get the slave society, the enslaved society that they want. And so the point in taking a stand is to show, just as you said, hey, wait a minute, I can do this, I'm empowered and it works. And then that becomes contagious and other people go. Well, actually, there's nothing extraordinary about you, you're just an ordinary person who did something different, and I can do that too. And then if everyone just starts taking a stand, then all of a sudden, just as our founder saw, then the rulers have to bend a knee and the people then are empowered. And that's what we want to stand for.
Speaker 3:
Right, I was going to say it would have been really, really nice to have just two or three other people standing with me, because then you start to turn the tide, and so I'd like to pivot back to our youth panel and we'll start with Landon. But just asking what would be your tips or advice? Like, how do you guys think we can inspire our generation, gen Z and people younger than us, to stand with us, because we need to get them to stand up. How do we get them to stand up with us?
Speaker 4:
Well, number one I would encourage people to continuously start asking questions, because that seems like that fuels the courage for us to be able to stand up, and that will lead to us taking actions, and us taking actions will foster and allowing us to have a much greater impact on even the little things.
Speaker 3:
That's really good, Reagan. What are your?
Speaker 5:
thoughts. Can you ask the question one more time? I apologize.
Speaker 3:
How would? What's, what would you say? How do we inspire our fellow students and those younger than us to stand up with us?
Speaker 5:
Right. I mean, don't be afraid. I know it's scary, but you know, operating in God's will, you know, knowing that he has you, no matter what. I mean, like Landon said, it's going to be hard. Life isn't easy. God can't guarantee that everything's going to be. You know rainbows and lollipops. It's going to be difficult, but as long as you act in his will, you will. That's the word I'm looking for. You will prosper, you will work out his plan, you will work out his plan, and I think it's just realizing that you can rely on Christ. That would be the most important thing for me, as well as getting plugged in with other people, as you said. You know, if you could have had just one other person or two other people, it would have made it a lot easier. I mean, just finding one friend or two friends to stand up with you really makes all the difference.
Speaker 3:
Wonderful Sarah. What's your take?
Speaker 2:
it is very likely that other people also don't believe it's right and they just don't have that courage to say something. And once you say something, other people will say something, whether it's like a teacher in class that is just telling you falsehoods or going up against the actual you know governing officials doing these things. As a youth, you have that right and you have that power. But self educate yourself.
Speaker 2:
Um, you know, I think one of the worst things that has happened to our generation is getting information instead of education. So we're scrolling through social media. We, you know, we get all these narratives and the algorithms are shooting us in these directions to really isolate ourselves and they're just presenting us with little clip bits, little things that are presented as facts but they're not. And I think when you talk to other youth, they're getting these narratives through social media and they don't do any research themselves, because it's not an easy thing. But I think, encouraging each other to question things to discuss, to not stay silent anymore, because the reality is, it's our country, it's our society, it's our friends, it's our family that's at risk if we stay silent for long enough.
Speaker 3:
so I would encourage people to question it sounds like ask questions, be educated, and then just do it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know well, yeah, definitely a theme and some consistency at which I really like from people who are actually doing it. It reminds me of when I was in elementary school. Uh, just being me and my parents got called in for a teacher conference, which was unusual because I had good grades and so my dad never went to these, but it was apparently important enough that both parents had to go. And so they took off work and went and met the teacher, who explained that she needed their help because little Kelly was asking too many questions in class and challenging her, and she didn't want to be challenged by little Kelly's questions anymore. And so could they please have a firm talk with me and tell me not to ask questions in class. And my dad got so angry at this teacher who, by the way, he was a union activist and leader at the time and he gets up, I guess, pulls his chair out from the table, stands up and pounds his fist on the table and says good, and she's doing exactly what I taught her to do and storms out of the room. And I didn't get a talking to at all.
Speaker 1:
I nervously asked them that night. You know how did the teacher conference go? They said it was. Dad said it was great. You just keep doing what you're doing, kid, and of course, we all know how my career turned out since then. I've just kept asking questions of authority figures ever since and I haven't always been particularly popular throughout my career. But to your point, Sarah and Landon, I have been digging to the truth and exposing things that are wrong and making sure that we take a stand for what's right.
Speaker 1:
I think you're onto something that just asking questions really does help us clarify information and get to what's true and not just take the line from whoever thinks that they're in charge, because power is a very intoxicating thing and absolute power absolutely corrupts. So we'll be right back after this break. We're up on a break, so stand by with us. Make sure to hit subscribe at stanshoworg. Any one of your favorite podcast platforms is where you can find us. You're with Kelly and Josiah Chewbacca. We'll be right back.