When I got up this morning, Melissa had already taken care of me. <3
Sherman Alexie’s “Hymn”
I will sing for people who might not sing for me.
I will sing for people who are not my family.I will sing honor songs for the unfamiliar and new.
I will visit a different church and pray in a different pew.I will silently sit and carefully listen to new stories
About other people’s tragedies and glories.I will not assume my pain and joy are better.
I will not claim my people invented gravity or weather.And, oh, I know I will still feel my rage and rage and rage
But I won’t act like I’m the only person onstage.I am one more citizen marching against hatred.
Alone, we are defenseless. Collected, we are sacred.Excerpted from “Hymn” by Sherman Alexie.
Please go read the whole poem.1Update. According to NPR, Sherman Alexie “issued a statement admitting he ‘has harmed’ others, after rumors and allegations began to circulate about sexual harassment.” I don’t know how we deal with situations like this. We can’t ignore, yet do we wipe their work from the public space? Maybe. At least we provide an asterisk, a footnote. Maybe you don’t go read the whole poem. At least now, it’s your choice.
- 1Update. According to NPR, Sherman Alexie “issued a statement admitting he ‘has harmed’ others, after rumors and allegations began to circulate about sexual harassment.” I don’t know how we deal with situations like this. We can’t ignore, yet do we wipe their work from the public space? Maybe. At least we provide an asterisk, a footnote. Maybe you don’t go read the whole poem. At least now, it’s your choice.
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The foundation is love
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.By
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Right is stronger
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.By
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Us vs. Them
They are different—
races,
colors,
religions,
national origins,
ages,
sexes,
orientations.
—To be feared.We are different—
races,
colors,
religions,
national origins,
ages,
sexes,
orientations.
—To be loved.A shift in pronoun makes all the difference — changing perspective, converting the other to us. Instead of they being someone to be judged and feared, we are to be accepted and loved.
Eleanor Roosevelt on maturity
A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all-knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.
Eleanor RooseveltBy
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