On Deciding Who We Are

Published on February 25, 2025, filed under Philosophy and Everything Else (RSS feed for all categories).

Imagine a friend of yours to get beaten up, their family violated and killed, their possessions stolen, their house set on fire. (How horrible, I know—tough topic ahead.)

You might wonder, how can I help that person? How can I do my part to apprehend the people who have committed these crimes? How can I contribute to preventing such crimes from happening?

These are empathetic and honorable questions to ask, and tough questions for an individual to answer. These are hard problems for a single person, requiring a lot of energy and, for an eye-witness, courage. Then, these are challenges not typically anyone’s individual responsibility.

Let’s imagine your country was asked, and they were only asked to condemn such crimes.

The United Nations are bringing up such questions.

Yesterday, on February 24, 2025, there was another vote on “advancing a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine.” As everyone knows, the Ukraine has been attacked, without provocation, by Russia, with immense damage to life and land.

Here are 3 of the 18 countries (of course including Russia) who vote against advancing comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine:

• Hungary
• Israel
• United States

You may not be surprised, just like Amnesty International and the U.N. Special Rapporteur probably aren’t. Still, as with us as individuals, the statements our countries make (or don’t make) reflect the decisions they make about who they are and who they want to be.

We can decide to stand up against violence and injustice (which most countries, 93, do), we can decide to stand by when there’s violence and injustice (65 countries), or we can stand for violence and injustice (18 countries, including Hungary, Israel, and the United States of America).

Individually and collectively, we, everyone, decide who we are.

Personally, I don’t understand why people and countries opt for violence and injustice, or shrug their shoulders. They haven’t understood that people being hurt ultimately means themselves being hurt. (We need to take care of each other, which includes everyone.) But I am clear about my own decisions, and I think yours are going to be similar. No matter how many countries would endorse violence and injustice, we can decide that there’s none on our watch. That still takes energy and courage, but it makes for—who we are.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for small and large enterprises, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)