The Advocate: A Lone Advocate

“What happened to freedom of speech?" Tony asked the crowd, as he stared into a sea of blank faces. "Am I not free to speak on behalf of others? It's my God-given right to speak, but is anyone listening?” he wondered, as no one responded. Should I not plead the cause of others, who cannot speak…?”

He stopped abruptly in mid-sentence, as someone hurled a fireball at the makeshift podium where he was standing..

Tony quickly left, walked up the hill to a safe distance, and then turned to watch the crowd. He felt like a total stranger in a foreign country, a lone advocate for social justice. "Does anyone understand or are they too frightened to respond? Is there any support for this cause?” he wondered. “Who will speak out against injustice, if I don’t?”

“What is happening, daddy?” a frightened child who was standing nearby, asked his father.

“We’re going home, son,” his father replied quietly, as they left, along with many others.    

A terrified, young female in tears, ran past Tony. “You are right,” she called out to him. “It’s not fair!”

“Why is everyone angry?” someone else asked. “Is this going to court?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sticking around to find out,” another person replied.

“We live in a world of unanswered questions,” an old man said. “No one cares.”

“I can speak, plead or argue this cause, but it will not make any difference,” thought Tony. 

"The pathway of truth can be lonely,” a student who was videotaping the crowd, said to him.

Sirens began screaming. The police appeared as if out of nowhere, and attempted to disperse the crowd.

“What is happening to our civilized world?” a man asked his pregnant wife. “What is the future for our child?”

“We’re regressing to barbarianism,” she replied, sadly.  

“Is it truth or untruth that causes such chaos?” wondered Tony, as a picture of Christ, the Advocate for humankind, came to mind. “Untruth leads to social injustice; truth leads to peace.”