So many blogging days in the year, so little time... especially on Wednesdays, when I leave my house before the crack of dawn and don't stop moving until long after the crack of nighttime. So for now, some wise words I heard this Sunday at a Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, first spoken by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in January, 1963 at the National Conference on Religion and Race:
"It is not enough for us to exhort the government. What we must do is to set an example, not merely to acknowledge African-Americans but to welcome them, not grudgingly but joyously, to take delight in enabling them to enjoy what is due to them. We are all Pharaohs or slaves of Pharaohs. It is sad to be a slave of Pharaoh. It is horrible to be a Pharaoh.
Daily we should take account and ask: What have I done today to alleviate the anguish, to mitigate the evil, to prevent humiliation?
Let there be a grain of prophet in every person!
Our concern must be expressed not symbolically, but literally; not only publicly, but also privately, not only occasionally, but regularly.
What we need is the involvement of every one of us as individuals. What we need is restlessness, a constant awareness of the monstrosity of injustice."
(The Insecurity of Freedom, pp.96-98)
1 comment:
I'm so glad you stopped by and left a comment! Your blog is a terrific discovery for me.
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