Quotes

MLK

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“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” — then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”

…Martin Luther King Jr  …April 1963

Values

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“A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it’s lowest ones”― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

 

“We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

“Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy

 

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
― Albert Einstein

 

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank

 

“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
― Joe Biden

 

“Those who don’t value their words, will never value your wishes.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

 

-Some Fearsome thoughts-                                                                                                                                  …It is time I again contemplated values. My values, good values, value of others, value of the material and value of the spiritual. Contemplation helps me to re-enforce my core beliefs and personal morals. I post these quotes for inspiration from words that resonate with me.

I’ve found in my life that by living my values, I lead by example. In some way we all lead others and in some way we all follow others. I sincerely hope I follow good ones and that those I lead have found a good leader. Each day I must try to simply do my best. I must strive to do good and share goodness.

We can each make the world a better place. We simply have to start with ourselves and start right where we are.

Why not start right now?

Justice

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It’s Wednesday. This morning we have a 90 minute in home massage to break up more of the post surgery scar tissue that still inhibits the use of our left shoulder. In preparation Fearsome desired a word to contemplate while receiving said massage. A contemplation as a meditation so to speak.

Due to recent news and circumstances, a word that came to mind and resonated with both of us this morning just happened to be:

Justice…

…according to The Oxford English Dictionary can be defined as…

noun
1.
just behavior or treatment.
“a concern for justice, peace, and genuine respect for people”
synonyms: fairness, justness, fair play, fair-mindedness, equity, evenhandedness, impartiality, objectivity, neutrality, disinterestedness, honesty, righteousness, morals, morality
“I appealed to his sense of justice”

So we post this contemplation as a place for us to look back and remember where we were and what was important to us this day. We also share it as it may be a contemplation that one of you dear readers may also enjoy this day.

A wise man once said…

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Speak out

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Fearsome and I keep a fairly low profile. However, times come when we must speak. A famous quote from the holocaust reminds us that as humans we must speak out for those who are oppressed. We must speak out against hate. We must speak out against the unjust. We must feel empathy for our fellows, before it is too late.

The U.S.A. never was, is not and was never intended to be an all white, all Christian, all heterosexual nation.

Therefore we decided to just post that famous quote here…

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

 

History Lesson

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“No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind as between the internal and the external threats of communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it — and rather successfully. Cassius was right. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” Good night, and good luck.”    …..Edward R. Murrow 1954

“If none of us ever read a book that was “dangerous,” had a friend who was “different,” or joined an organization that advocated “change,” we would all be just the kind of people Joe McCarthy wants.”      …..Edward R. Murrow 1954

“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.”    …..Edward R. Murrow 1954

Perspective

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image

Through experience I have found that it’s easy to become overwhelmed. I take this opportunity to remind myself that there is opportunity in everything. I just have to remain open and then …only then …will I see opportunity.

I never ever need to drown.

Light bulb moment

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“Ruby knew then that a lie could only control a person if they believed it.”

Excerpt From: Bond, Cynthia. “Ruby (Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 Digital Edition).” Hogarth, 2014-04-29. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

I have been reading the book referred to above. Last night as I was finishing the book the above quote hit me as if I had stood up to quickly under a shelf I was unaware of was above me. My head split like a melon under a cleaver.

Sometimes we unconsciously lie to ourselves. Living a lie we may have lived for years. A lie we may have made up from something we misunderstood, or living a lie that we believed that someone else intentionally or un-intentionally gave to us. The problem isn’t the lie, but the power it has when we believe the lie.

If we can pause, open our minds, find the truth and then be open to believing that truth, we can free ourselves.

(Excellent book by the way.)