Last year, I was talking to someone who told me one of their co-workers sexually assaulted their friend. I asked how she could keep working with that individual.

He didn’t do it to me, she replied.

I think about that interaction all the time, what it encapsulates, what it enables. Monsters are only monstrous when we remain silent, when we go along, when we allow them to continue doing what they’re doing.

It’s the apaths who will destroy this country more than the monsters themselves. Too many of us are apaths. Some of it stems from conditioning, from learned helplessness, and from systems that tell us to remain silent (like those in place here in Utah). I think those folks can change.

Some of it’s from emotional indifference and a lack of concern for others’ suffering. I’m not sure those folks can change. They tend to fall in line with whatever’s happening around them, which is why it’s important for those who lead to be ethical and compassionate.

In that same conversation last year, I explained why I was speaking up about an issue that was important to me. The woman suggested I not say anything at all.

Of course she did.

I didn’t listen. Of course I didn’t.