Atticus Finch, the small town lawyer in "To Kill A Mockingbird," lost just about every friend he had because he took on the defense of a black man accused of raping a white woman. His purpose was to pursue justice, regardless the cost.
Sometimes we find ourselves at odds with friends or even with family because of a moral stand that becomes so evident to us. Perhaps it is little more than the decision not to respond to a racist or homophobic joke at work or the decision to call a child to account for being insensitive to a classmate who is different from them. Granted, it is often not easy to do this. None of us wants to appear priggish or "holier than thou." Certainly, we want people to like us.
But God calls us to act justly (Micah 6:8). Therefore, justice becomes more important than the approval of others. We owe it to ourselves to map out a moral plan for our lives and to pray for the courage to follow that map.
At the end of "To Kill A Mockingbird," Finch loses his case. The man is wrongly convicted of a terrible crime. Finch walks from the courtroom dejected. But as he passed his children, seated in the back of the room with the black townspeople, they all rose to their feet -- and so must we, even figuratively -- to honor someone who followed a path of justice, whatever the cost.
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