Baldwin’s warning can sound harsh, but it isn’t simply a dismissal; it’s a demand for realism. If you cannot tolerate the mess—ambiguity, conflict, slow progress—then stepping back may be wiser than entering and then sabotaging the work through resentment or denial.
At the same time, the line challenges a softer temptation: staying on the sidelines while maintaining a clean conscience. Baldwin implies that purity achieved by avoiding engagement is not moral superiority; it is avoidance dressed as virtue. [...]
