Deut 23: 15-16
15If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand him over to his master. 16Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.
"The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right. ~William Safire "The New York Times"
You're probably wondering why I am bringing up the topic of slavery and doing what is right. Last night I finished "The Sugar Camp Quilt" (Jennifer Chiaverini). This is the second book in the Elm Creek Quilts series in which she discusses the abolotionist movement and the underground railroad.
The plot of this book centers around a family who discovers a secret and decides to follow suit, in trying to help slaves escape to freedom. It discusses the risks they took and the things they experienced. Yes, it is a work of fiction, but it did make me think. Would I, could I have done what those brave people (runaways and station-masters alike) did?
It's hard to know how we will respond to a situation, until we are in that specific situation. We all would like to think that we would be brave and be willing to sacrifice our own security and that of our families to do what is right.
What all of those people did was beyond amazing. They knew no more than they needed to and were willing to risk everything (their own freedom, their homes, their property, their families etc) to do what they believed, beyond a doubt, was right.
What the slaves did was inconceivable: Running from what they knew, not knowing what they would receive...not knowing if they would be found, if they would be betrayed, re-enslaved, taste freedom, die. That they managed to walk thousands of miles to their freedom, trusting only on the goodwill of others.
I believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, that slavery is wrong. No person has the right to own another, and to treat them however [poorly] they see fit. I don't believe I'll ever know whether I could do what those brave men and women, blacks and whites, did. I would like to think I could.
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