Strongest is one who stands alone

 

The wise man strives alone- Old Indian Proverbs 

42-year-old African American Rosa Parks boarded a Montgomery city bus after her work. She sat on the seats reserved for the whites only. In the 1950s, the southern states of the USA were under an infamous system of racial segregation known as “Jim Crow laws.” It mandated separate facilities for white and Black people, including schools, restaurants, and public transportation. The bus driver ordered Parks and three other Black passengers to vacate their row. While the others complied, Rosa Parks refused. She stood alone and became the mother of the Civil Rights Movement. That was in 1955, and in 2008 the USA elected its first Black president—Black as the night is black—Barack Obama!!

 

In the seventeenth century the Church ruled thought. The earth, the church said, stood at the center. The sun and stars turned around it. Few dared to speak against it. Galileo, through his telescopic observations, saw the moons of Jupiter. The movement of the planets. The proof was clear. The sun stood at the center. Not the earth. The Catholic Church declared his discoveries “heretical,” summoned him, and put him under house arrest for his entire life. Accused him of heresy. It was in 1633. Galileo stood alone and became a symbol of intellectual courage. Finally, in 1992, the church acknowledged that it had persecuted Galileo unfairly (?).

 

After World War II, Czechoslovakia fell under a Soviet-backed communist dictatorship. The regime, controlled politics, education, and especially art and culture. The media was rudely censored. Citizens lived in fear of the secret police (StB). Václav Havel, a playwright, was observing these state-sponsored injustices. He decided to stand against the regime through his plays, satire & essays. These sparked people’s sentiment and eventually led to the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

 

The My Lai massacre is considered the darkest day in US military history. On March 16, 1986, during the Vietnam War, US helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr. witnessed that his fellow American soldiers were killing unarmed Vietnamese civilians—old and young women and babies—in the village of My Lai. He immediately landed his chopper between the U.S. soldiers and the civilians and threatened to fire on his own side to stop the killings. Hugh saved dozens of civilians and exposed one of the brutal war crimes committed by the US. He was initially criticized and even received death threats for exposing the atrocity; however, he was later recognized for his bravery and awarded the Soldier’s Medal.

 

King Darius III reached the plains of Gaugamela with endless men. Seeing the huge Persian army, Alexander’s senior generals strongly recommended him to launch a surprise attack at night. But Alexander refused. He was the only one in his camp who disagreed. “I will not steal my victory!” he said. The words were quiet and final. Alexander proved his stand, attacked at dawn, rode hard, shattered the morale of Darius’s army, and conquered the remaining Persian capitals. He earned the victory in the full light of day.