He who is silent and bows his head dies every time he does so. He who speaks aloud and walks with his head held high dies only once.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of speaking out and standing proud against oppression or wrongdoing.
Giovanni Falcone highlights the difference between passively submitting to circumstances and actively fighting for one's beliefs. By choosing silence and submission, one continually surrenders to defeat, whereas by speaking out and standing tall, a person embraces life fully, facing challenges head-on, even at the risk of encountering their demise only once.
In practice
During a speech at a rally advocating for justice.
One usually dies because one is alone, or because one has got into something over one's head. One often dies because one does not have the right alliances, because one is not given support. In Sicily the Mafia kills the servants of the State that the State has not been able to protect.
The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, he's going to keep digging, he's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who he is.
Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.
Adversity will only sharpen our wits and make us more strong-willed, resulting in the political awakening of more Hong Kongers, not to mention the international community's support.
I find it amazing that the only group of people who are not fighting and not killing and not pillaging and not burning and not raping, and the group of people who are mostly β though not exclusively β who are keeping life going in the midst of war, are not included in the negotiating table.
It is impossible to fight bullies merely by saying they're going too far.
Being fearless doesn't mean living a life devoid of fear, but living a life in which our fears don't hold us back
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