Category: civil graces
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What lies beneath it all
“And so to love this country and to love humanity is to push humanity constructively to be a better form of itself, and there’s no way we’re going to be a better form, there’s no way we can build a better humanity, while we still have on the shackles of racism.” –Ibram X. Kendi Today…
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Where Do We Go From Here?
“But dignity is also corroded by poverty no matter how poetically we invest the humble with simple graces and charm. No worker can maintain his morale or sustain his spirit if in the market place his capacities are declared to be worthless to society.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos…
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What Unites
“And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between usbut what stands before usWe close the divide because we know, to put our future first,we must first put our differences asideWe lay down our armsso we can reach out our armsto one another” -Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb” presented during the Inauguration…
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Every Day Civil Graces
“The time is always right to do the right thing. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. I have observed a few things and maybe needed to include them in The Civil Graces Project. These are basic things, but apparently, they aren’t clear to all…
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Manifesting Our Destiny
“We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.” -Abraham Lincoln Like many, my eyes watched the disturbing images at…
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Excess Baggage
“No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.” ― Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History Where do we stand? It all depends on our vantage point. In the…
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Instruments of Peace
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” —Eleanor Roosevelt In my writings, I often refer to the big table where we gathered when I was growing up. This is where we would do our homework, play games,…
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Discerning our Place
“It is in the depths of your life that you will discover the invisible necessity that has brought you here. When you begin to decipher this, your gift and giftedness come alive. Your heart quickens and the urgency of living rekindles your creativity.”― John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom In light of all that…
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Gratitude is enough
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -Melody Beattie One of my favorite memories was teaching my gravy-loving son the alchemy of how the gravy is made.…
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Reclaiming Our Power
“Diverse groups that figure out how to cooperate outperform and outlast groups that don’t…Social virtues such as trust and generosity and compassion may seem like they’re for suckers, but in fact, they’re for winners. They help groups cohere in ways that enable all members to survive and thrive and the group to endure.” -Eric Liu, You’re…