Sometimes it turns out that a person didn’t want a more just system. They just wanted a better place within an unjust system.
While they sat on the other side of the table, they spoke of equal rules, fair advancement, and the accountability of decision-makers. They took issue with every privilege, every special arrangement, and every decision that passed someone over simply because they didn’t belong to the right circle of people.
Back then, that injustice hurt them. But sometimes, all it takes is a change of seats.
To gain a position, access, or the power to decide on matters they could only talk about until yesterday. Suddenly, what was unjust is now a “complex business decision.” Favoritism is now “trust.” And they begin defending the very thing they once opposed, using the same words once hurled at the people they condemned.
Not because the system has changed. Their place within it has changed.
Character isn’t tested until it costs us something. The real test begins when injustice offers us a benefit, when silence opens doors for us, and when, for the sake of consistency, we must give up something we’ve long desired.
Only then does it become clear who truly believed what they said and who was simply biding their time.
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