Listening

Henry David Thoreau once argued that law does not necessarily make people just. In fact, blind respect for law can turn decent individuals into tools of injustice. Soldiers, for example, may march to war even though they hate violence and know it is wrong. They obey orders like machines, abandoning their own moral sense. Throughout history, many terrible crimes were committed not only by leaders, but also by ordinary people who chose to follow orders rather than their conscience. True courage, Thoreau said, comes from resisting unjust laws. Those who disobey in the name of justice—like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and others—are remembered as heroes. Even though society often condemns such people while they are alive, history later honors them. Thoreau, Gandhi, and King all believed that individuals must follow what is right and true rather than simply obeying authority. Their message is clear: real justice begins with personal conscience.