TRIUMPH OF EVIL

By Chantal Cooke

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to stand back and do nothing”

Edmund Burke

 It’s as true to day as it was when Mr Burke first said it. I find it an inspiring quote – one that I have tried to live my life by.

Bad things happen in the world because we let them. For example the trafficking of women is still a problem today because we don’t do enough to stop it.

There are plenty of “good” people who, although not directly involved in the trafficking, know who is doing it and turn a blind eye to it. And plenty of people who wish to make use of the services of trafficked women and turn a blind eye to how they got there or how they are treated. While we stand back and do nothing – evil triumphs.

As individuals and as business owners there is plenty we can do.

In reality it would be very difficult (and perhaps not entirely productive) to fight every evil and run a business (and have a life), so the first step to stopping evil has to be to decide which battles we want to fight. Which evils are we most motivated to stop?

Having answered that question then we need to look at what contribution we can make to stopping it. Let’s assume you don’t wish to close up shop and become a campaigner or under cover investigator. Let’s assume you wish to be able to do something while running your business. So what could you, within your business, do?

Most charities need cash and awareness building more than anything else – so think of ways you can help them achieve these two goals.

Over the last eight years at PASSION for the PLANET we have highlighted hundreds of causes and raised awareness of the plight of trafficked women, slaves, orphans, abused animals, exploited native peoples … etc. In our case, the motivation to start PASSION for the PLANET http://www.passionfortheplanet.com  was to “change the world” by letting people know what was going on and then giving them information about how they could help. In other words; education and inspiration.

In addition we’ve donated both money and radio advertising to charities, we’ve also donated prizes for raffles and unwanted office furniture for fund raising and re-use.

These are just a few of the ways, as a business, we’ve chosen to help. Yes, we are in a unique position of having an audience of over 100,000 that we can talk to, but every business has an audience, even if it’s a small one. Every business can donate – if you can’t donate cash, then offer time or goods or services.

That’s the obvious easy stuff. We can do all that and it will certainly help – but we really need to look a little deeper at ourselves. When do we turn a blind eye in our lives? When do we decide not to get involved? When do we stand back and do nothing? 

Is there someone you know who needs help? Or someone who is not behaving legally? Or someone who is not taking responsibility for their life? If there is – are you standing back or stepping up? Or are you taking action to change the world for the better or are you letting evil triumph?

Chantal Cooke is a professional journalist and author, and co-founder of the UK’s only green and healthy radio station Passion for the Planet.