Lorraine Hansberry: “There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing.”Lorraine Vivian Hansberry the 3rd (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays. Her best known work, A Raisin in the Sun, was inspired by her family's battle against racial segregation in Chicago.
Karen Armstrong: “Each of the world religions has its own particular genius, its own special insight into the nature and requirements of compassion, and has something unique to teach us.”Karen Armstrong FRSL (born 14 November 1944), is a British author and commentator who is the author of twelve books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic nun, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical faith. Armstrong first rose to prominence in 1993 with her book, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an international best seller that is now required reading in many theology courses. Her work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance, in many, of compassion or "The Golden Rule".
Armstrong received the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008. She used that occasion to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year.
Zelda Fitzgerald: “Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much a heart can hold.”Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948), born Zelda Sayre ("Sayre" is pronounced to rhyme with "fair") in Montgomery, Alabama, was an American novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper".
Christopher: "Please do not mistake tenderness for pity. Also do not mistake a compassionate man for a weak one, nor for one who will back down when hard decisions are called for. However, please know that mercy carries far more weight than justice in the tangled weave of delusional self will that bends and twists the outcomes in most of our lives. Thus do not mistake the clarity of a merciful man."
What Is Compassion
The wise man
taught me words for it,
said when you reach the far stars,
see with God's bright eyes,
the world's need rises
and you are tender but still
far away and free
and you can reach down,
touch in tenderness without
getting caught in traps,
and you are filled up
with the force of tenderness
like juice in apples.
Written February 3, 2009 9:00 AM
First Posted August 5, 2009
Images and quotes added today (except for my own quote which originally introduced this poem).
this was a lovely poem and a thoughtful post .... it got me thinking about the complexity of appearances, the dangers of assumptions. nice work, as usual.
ReplyDeletethank you.
:)