I say to you this morning,
that if you have never found something
so dear and so precious to you
that you will die for it,
then you aren't fit to live
You may be 38 years old as I happen to be
And one day some great opportunity
stands before you
And calls upon you to stand up
for some great principle
Some great issue, some great cause
And you refuse to do it
because you are afraid
You refuse to do it
because you want to live longer
You're afraid that you will lose your job
Or you're afraid that you will bе criticized
Or that you will lose your popularity
Or you're afraid that somеbody will stab
you or shoot at you or bomb your house
And so you refuse to take the stand
Well, you may go on
and live until you are 90
But you're just as dead at 38 as you
would be at 90
And the sensation of breathing
in your life is but the belated
announcement of an earlier
death of the spirit
You died when you refused to
stand up for right
You died when you refused to
stand up for truth
You died when you refused to
stand up for justice
