I'm in the midst of writing my book and diving back into the Great Terror, Stalin's purges that killed and imprisoned nearly 30 million people. Far more people were either active participants or averted their gaze. 1/5
We are obviously very far from that now, but it makes me think again what I have learned from history: Everyone dies in the end. The question is, how is your name remembered? 2/5
The only people who come out looking good are the people who didn't compromise their beliefs, who spoke out no matter what it cost them, who didn't try to compromise or bargain with their conscience. 3/5
The people who hedged, who compromised, who chose to live well in the now instead never look good because, in retrospect the equation looks inverted: the evil is crystal clear but the daily comfort, the fear looks hazy. 4/5
The question is: is it worth being silent, is it worth doing nothing? You can't take the jobs or the money or the stuff with you. The money looks like Monopoly money in the end, the stuff is eaten by moths. The thing that never fades is your good name—and your conscience. 5/5
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