"...Afraid of Being a Person Whose Life Didn't Matter" by Tessa David Rose

The text below is being pasted directly from Sierratimes.com but was also sent directly to this blogger's email by Larken Rose himself.

The commentary is of a critical nature to all Americans and speaks volumes about the bravery still found in our countrymen and women today. Truly inspirational!

If I'm Afraid of Anything, I Guess I'm Afraid of Being a Person Whose Life Didn't Matter

Tessa Rose (Wife of Larken)

Ten years ago, the prospect of being indicted would have been frightening and stressful to me. But I was a different person ten years ago. The experiences of the last few years have thickened my skin and strengthened my resolve. One of the hardest things about the last few years has been waiting and waiting for things to happen. So this indictment is a relief. Things are finally moving toward our long-held goal of bringing this issue to court.

I would so love to be past all this, living a peaceful life again. But the only way out of this is right through it. From the beginning, there has never been another way out. I have tried, at times, to imagine a way to back up and somehow stop doing this, but I cannot. Once you understand the law, you can't un-understand it. Once you understand that your income isn't taxable, you're committing felonious perjury if you sign a return saying that it is. Once you understand that millions of people are being defrauded, you're killing your own soul if you keep quiet about it.

Every year, people in government grow more lawless, more arrogant, and more numerous. And their victims quietly submit, enjoying their lives in the hope that the thing they enjoy most won't be outlawed next. They see water running through a hole in the dyke, and they get out of the way so they won't get wet. At some point, don't we have to ask ourselves what we want for our children and grandchildren? If we think the government is too big to fight now, how much more powerful will it be in 20 or 40 years? Especially if no one resists it? Do we want our children to drown because we were afraid to plug the hole in the dyke? Does anyone really think they are creating a better life for their kids by allowing civil rights and the rule of law to perish? Rights don't survive because they're written on a piece of paper somewhere; they survive because people fight for them, as we're fighting for them right now. The government wants Larken to shut up, but if their tactics succeed, what does it matter that American’s have freedom of speech on paper? What good are elected representatives and written laws, if, in practice, bureaucrats can just tell you what to do regardless of the law?

I've heard people say that you only destroy your own life by taking on a battle like this. The implication is that if you fight and lose, then you were wrong to fight. I guess they're right, if a relatively peaceful, oppressed lifetime is their highest value. It's not mine. I value a free society, in which generation after generation can experience peace and prosperity, in which all of our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren can make their dreams come true. Every action, large and small, must be judged in light of that value. Am I furthering what I value, or am I contributing to its demise? Whatever I chose, I will have to live with having made that choice. We are all on trial in the great court of history, and our great-grandchildren will judge our generation with clear eyes.

Some people think I'm brave. Well, no, not really. I'll never go skydiving or rock climbing. But I have only one life to live, one life with which to make a difference in the world, or not. If I'm afraid of anything, I guess I'm afraid of being a person whose life didn't matter, just one more ordinary person who cowered in safety and let things get worse. If we go to trial and lose, that will really suck. But it won't negate the truth we've brought to light, or the resistance we've made to the growth of rampant tyranny. Every act of resistance makes tyranny weaker. Many, many acts of resistance, even small ones, can topple it. I don't wish suffering on myself or anyone else, but I am proud of people who have stood up for truth and justice when it was dangerous to do so. And I'll be proud to be one of those people, no matter what happens to me.

Tessa David Rose