In a recent political speech, the presumed Republican presidential candidate referred to some people as “vermin.” When mainstream media compared this to speeches given in the Weimar Republic by another infamous candidate seeking to lead his country, the presidential candidate’s team called the comparison disgusting and a deliberate attack intended to obfuscate issues.

I’ve struggled with how to write this, because my calling out our local theatre director over the summer for racism and misogyny resulted in me being called an attacker, and I don’t want to write an “it happened to me” blog. I want to write a “words matter and we’re in trouble so move through your life with prayerful integrity” blog.

Over the summer I was a volunteer on an arts committee for our town’s local theatre. When it became evident that there were issues with equity in pay and in choices of acts—and also that voices of artists from diverse communities were missing from the planning group—I asked questions. This culminated in a phone call with the theatre’s director, where I called out certain decisions and several preceding actions since his arrival as white supremacy.

All hell broke lose. The director asked me to a meeting with a board member, told me I was disgusting. It is a common strategy to say someone else attacked you when you feel defensive.

The board member told me I had no right to attack the director. Both said I should be ashamed. When you cannot justify your actions, when you do not want to engage on why what you’re doing is good (or even good enough), you attack.

In talking afterward with the regional newspaper about the events at the theatre, a heavy sigh preceded the reporter putting into words what we both knew: the same thing is happening everywhere. What used to hide behind coded language and secret handshakes is now a campaign platform. The only unusual aspect of the local theatre story was that the director actually got fired, a unique twist to a standard plot.

Dear reader, let me challenge you with another twist on a now-standard saying, “if you see something, say something.” What’s happening right now in the “God is on OUR side” culture wars requires knowing the difference between calling someone names, and calling someone out.

When I ended the meeting with the board member, he was still defending the director, who was still insulting me. Something strange happened: the director’s last words as I left were, “Good luck to you.”

From nowhere, my mouth opened and out came, “I won’t need luck; I have integrity.”

I’m not going to wish you luck as you parse through the attitudes and actions of this coming year’s political climate. We’re not jerks, elites, woke-ists, or any of the other names we get called for refusing to let dehumanizing words and actions go by. We do very much need to avoid being self-righteous assholes, and I’m praying for wisdom, discernment, and integrity on how God plans for me to walk these days. Moral high ground is both heady and slippery.

Walk softly, never mind the big stick. If you see something, say something.