What Is Your Price?
At what point are we willing to sell out monetarily, socially or spiritually?
A woman sits at the bar waiting for her date to arrive. A handsome, well-dressed man approaches her and asks, “Would you be willing to spend the night with me for a million dollars?”
The woman quickly considers her options and smiles as she says, “Sure, why not?”
The man then asks her, “Would you be willing to do it for fifty dollars?”
The woman indignantly snaps, “Of course not! What kind of woman do you think I am?”
The man replies, “We’ve already established what kind of woman you are. Now we just need to settle on a price.”
Most of us have likely joked around about the price point at which we’d be willing to sell out.
If we’re haggling with a buyer over a material item, that’s probably not a bad thing.
But some things are precious enough that we should be unwilling to part with them at any price.
Here are two examples:
Most of us know James O’Keeffe as the founder of Project Veritas. His undercover videos have made some very powerful people very uncomfortable.
James O’Keeffe made a powerful observation while addressing a Socrates In the City gathering.
He starts with the question, “What’s your price? Is it $10 million? Is it $20 million? Is it a hundred million?”
Then he drives his point home and draws audible gasps from his audience by noting:
“Because if your price is not your life, then you are for sale.”
O’Keeffe continues:
“So, if you’re going to be a truth-teller, your price has to be your life. I can’t surround myself with people whose price is not their life. Because the enemy—whatever the enemy is—whether it be physical, legal or spiritual, will attack the vulnerability of the person who can be compromised. So you get real spiritual, real fast if you’re going to do this type of work.”
That part about being a truth-teller should get our full attention.
Think about how many things are going on around us that require us, either tacitly or explicitly, to participate in a lie or in some other denial of reality.
You shouldn’t have to look too hard to find an example.
Sometimes the price of speaking the truth is short-term discomfort such as finding ourselves in disagreement with friends, family, or coworkers.
In the era of cancel culture, it can include real hardship including loss of friendships and employment, harassment, violence at the hands of unstable individuals, or even potential criminal repercussions.
That’s a price that not many of us are willing to risk and we find ourselves selling out, monetarily, socially or spiritually simply to keep whatever remaining peace or comfort we currently enjoy.
That’s when I like to remember Sophie Scholl and the other members of the White Rose Society.
Sophie and her brother Hans were raised during the ascendancy of the Third Reich by faithful parents who taught them right from wrong.
Like all German children, they were required to join the ranks of the Hitler Youth and to dedicate themselves to the cause of the Fatherland.
Hans was training to become a doctor and Sophie was being trained as a nurse as WWII became a full-scale conflagration.
One day, another nurse told Sophie about seeing mentally handicapped children being loaded onto buses and driven away to be killed as part of the Third Reich’s effort to purify the population.
When the children asked where they were being taken, the answer was “To heaven” and they sang songs as the buses drove away.
This was more than Sophie’s conscience could endure and she and Hans soon joined a small group of students which became known as the White Rose.
They published and distributed leaflets calling upon their fellow countrymen to resist the madness of their leaders and to stop supporting the war effort before their country was destroyed.
All of this, of course, was highly illegal and they were hunted around the clock by the Gestapo.
In February of 1943, they were caught by the authorities, interrogated, and then put on trial.
The film Sophie Scholl: The Final Days accurately portrays what happened next.
We don’t have to guess what those interrogations or their trials were like. The Nazis kept immaculate records of everything they did because it was all legal, according to their laws.
Sophie was actually given an out when her brother told the Gestapo that he had distributed the leaflets but that she didn’t know anything about what he was doing.
Instead of grasping for a chance at freedom, she told her interrogator, “I did it and I’m glad that I did.”
When Sophie was questioned in court as to why she would speak out against her country’s leadership, she answered, “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.”
What makes this remarkable is that battle-hardened generals and other officers fearfully sat silent as this young woman spoke truth to power.
After their show trial, Sophie, Hans, and another colleague were executed by guillotine.
This is what’s meant by “Unless your price is your life, you are for sale.”
What would you consider so essential and sacred that you would be willing to face death or imprisonment rather than deny it?
That’s the kind of question each of us must answer individually. And even then, only after serious contemplation and reflection.
I believe that one day each of us will have the opportunity to meet Sophie Scholl and other brave souls like her in the long halls of eternity.
Speaking for myself, I want to be the kind of individual who can face her with confidence and appreciation and tell her, “Because of your example, I too found the courage to speak the truth even though my voice was shaking. I would not be compromised.”
This won’t make sense to everyone. But if it makes sense to you, I encourage you to consider how your influence might also be needed in the days ahead.
The Fifty-Two Seven Alliance is a community for those who understand what their price is and who will not sell out. It’s not a coincidence that this message is reaching you at this moment.
Consider joining us.
Make the difference you were born to make.
Bryan
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P.S. Helping each other publish peace and tidings of great joy is a big part of what we hope to accomplish with the Fifty-two Seven Alliance. You are invited to join us in this endeavor when you are ready!
Have questions about The Fifty-two Seven Alliance? You can find answers in our FAQ post here.
You can review The Fifty-two Seven Community Charter here.
Bryan, I've made my decisions, not to ever sell out, again. Long ago. We're all guilty of it in one Way or another.
Additionally, I'm no martyr either. That's another discussion. There's people that rely on others who for some reason aren't capable of doing certain things. Therefore We are.