 Image credit: https://about.ups.com/us/en/social-impact/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/martin-luther-king-jr--day-2023.html Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always right to do what is right. We must condemn those who are perpetuating the violence and not the individuals who engage in the pursuit of their constitutional rights. No lie can live forever, oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever, the yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’. We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now. Make a career of humanity, commit yourself to the struggle for equal rights. Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way. Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.The foundation of such a method is love. Let no man pull you low enough to hate him. That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold. I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. I still have a dream.
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 Kindness - Why Bother? Because right now, there is someone out there with a wound in the exact shape of your words. There is someone who needs your smile, some eye contact, a gentle touch, a listening ear, a kind word, a safe space to just be. How desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness. Continue to remind people you meet that each is as good as the other and that no one is beneath nor above you. 7-8 billion human beings, they are the same as your brothers and sisters, we are very close, more in common than that which divides us, our lives are much better when we live with the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. The heart that has been shattered by a thousand cuts of unkindness, or through unkind circumstances beyond their control, can again be mended, through compassion, through kindness, through acceptance, through love. People often don’t need to be saved, they need to be heard, seen, understood and loved, that’s how we help them heal so they can save themselves, it’s how we heal ourselves and heal the world. Kindness to self, kindness to others, kindness to the planet. Healing comes through kindness and love, in kindness and love, it comes through understanding ourselves and others, our healing is in light and through light. There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in, growing inside us, through the sadness and pain, the light, the gold, growing and flowing, and lighting up the world. One Kindness At A Time I wrote this piece this morning taking inspiration, and some direct lines, from things I have read and seen, creating a mash up in honour of The World Kindness Movement and World Kindness Day. The piece incorporates my own words along with words from others: Sean Thomas Dougherty, Naomi Shihab Nye, Dr Maya Angelou, The Dalai Lama, Jo Cox, Jurgita Gerulskyte, Leonard Cohen and UNESCO.
Wishing you all a wonderful World Kindness Day! Jo |