Truth. If you open your mouth and speak truth to power (or to evil, although those things tend to be the same) you’ll make enemies, especially if you’re a good person who stands up for what’s right. Unfortunately, life isn’t like the movies, and unless you’re rich, powerful, famous, good looking, physically fit, and in particular some combination of the above, you’ll most likely end up dead and / or broke if you don’t shut up after you get warned to stop talking about certain things.

I’m the kind of person who naively spoke truth to power in the past with none of the power / privilege I mentioned. Now I wish I’d just kept my mouth shut and my head down. I didn’t change anything, but I did get myself and to a lesser extent, my family hurt. Although to be fair, some members of my family were dumb enough to say things like, “This isn’t right, you should speak up about it.” and I should’ve trusted my gut instincts and disregarded them.

“Snitches get stitches” is the real truth of life. People who speak out have to be careful when they do, and especially make sure they don’t get caught. Same thing with action, “If you take a shot at the king, make sure you don’t miss.” is also extremely true. Not saying that people should be cowards, but I’ve learned that if you’re not going to change anything anyway, don’t put yourself or your family at risk.