We’ve all been taught since we were little to avoid conflict and that for us to pursue or get into fight was a bad thing. And I suppose that’s right…at least to a certain extent.
Usually when we fight, it’s because we didn’t get our way or something didn’t go like we thought it should. We got upset or mad and decided to take matters into our own hands. Those are certainly instances where self-control or temperance or patience should rule the day. Indeed—we should all be peacekeepers.
However, there are battles out there worth fighting. There are certain things that when confronted, deserve the very best fight we can muster. Anything less would actually be dishonorable.
A fight against injustice is a worthy fight. There is right and there is wrong—fair and unfair. Wrong is wrong every single time and we should always be willing to wage war against the wrongs of this world.
A fight against ignorance is a fight that needs to be fought. In every area of our culture, ignorance kills. Whether you see ignorance about race or creed or color or faith…ignorance destroys and should be beaten back with full force.
I’ve recently been reminded of another fight worth fighting…the fight against things like cancer or diabetes or heart disease. My dad fought bravely against diabetes and heart disease. My father-in-law is currently battling a 30-year siege warfare with Parkinson’s disease. Yesterday I had the honor of attending a memorial service for my great-uncle Jo Bob Hille. (That is, I think he was my great-uncle…his grandmother and my great-grandmother were sisters)
Jo Bob had been fighting the battle against Alzheimer’s for the last ten years and finally succumbed earlier this week. His death was a tragedy. He was only 65 years old. The fight against Alzheimer’s is one of the most brutal fights you can fight. Your loved one is there…but they’re not there. As I considered Jo Bob’s passing and watched the family at the memorial service, I was reminded that, like other diseases…it’s not just the victim who is called to fight, but the whole family, the whole network of friends. Everyone is called into battle. A funeral is a meeting of the comrades-in-arms.
Whether a fight is worthy or not has nothing to with whether you can win or not. Some of the most noble battles ever waged were lost causes. But the heroes fought valiantly because it was the right thing to do. Alzheimer’s is a vicious enemy. No one wins their encounter with this disease. Mary Ann Hille and her daughters Leslie, Sheila, and Maggie and their children and their husbands and the family friends and the care givers at St. Simeon’s all fought shoulder to shoulder with Jo Bob not necessarily because they thought they could win. They fought because it was the right thing to do.
Galatians 6:9-10 says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
My desire is that no matter what happens in my future—good, bad or ugly, I’d stay away from those bad fights and be able to say with Paul, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7 NIV)
First of all, I love that picture. We studied it in art history.
Secondly, i agree that some fights are always worth fighting. americans who fight for racial justice today are called troublemakers– they’re accused of stirring up trouble where there was none. people who fight for the environment are seen as a bunch of obnoxious dirty hippies, even though our planet is being degraded right before our eyes. people who fight for interreligious understanding are called traitors to their own religions.
many americans right now are happy with the status quo. they want to leave well enough alone. but where would we be if the minutemen had been complacent? or the abolitionists? or the athenians at thermopylae or marathon? it’s time to take a deep breath and face the fact that many good things can’t be had without a fight. and then it’s time to get down to business.