The Power of Words

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior wrote that "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" in 1963.

Just last week Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan said that "A terrorist attack on any of us is an attack on all of us."

I shared both quotes with my Civics class, but one eighth grader wrote on the board under Dr. King's words that  "no one gets this." I asked if they'd like me to discuss it with them and the same student said, "no, we don't care either."

That made me thing of Jimmy Buffett's famous line, "Is it ignorance, or apathy? I don't know and I don't care."

I care, God knows I care, but God only knows how I'm supposed to teach eighth graders how to care.

So I took King's words,

Injustice ANYWHERE is a threat to Justice EVERYWHERE

and I paired them with James Madison's words-

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

[Disunity] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Unity] EVERYWHERE

[Turmoil] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Tranquility] EVERYWHERE

[Insecurity] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Security] EVERYWHERE

Or would that have sounded better with [Offense] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Defense] EVERYWHERE?

[Suffering] ANYWHERE is a threat to [the General Welfare] EVERYWHERE!

Now THERE'S one that probably makes "rugged individualists" absolutely cringe, but AREN'T I my brother's keeper?

And of course,

[Tyranny] ANYWHERE is a threat to [Liberty] EVERYWHERE

So isn't it true?

Don't you CARE?

Don't you realize? Don't you know?

That "Injustice ANYWHERE is a threat to Justice EVERYWHERE!"

Is justice really blind?

Have you ever heard, "No Justice, No Peace!"?

Did you know, what Cornell West says?

He says that “Justice is what love looks like in public.”

Merrium and Webster say that "public" means 

"exposed to general view : 

open, well-known, prominentc : 

perceptible, material..."

and 

"of, relating to, or affecting ALL the people."

Did you know?

Do you care?

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" 

Amos 5:24

We only complain about the ones we love

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

~James A. Baldwin

Most awesome quote EVER!!!

"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy."

- Wendell Berry

When I think about all I've learned about Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith and John Locke and Rousseau- and then I contrast Jesus' teachings to Machiavelli, holy cow but this Wendell Berry quote is phenomenal. It sums up so much of what I believe.

We're all in this together folks.

Don't you think we were put her to help each other if and when we can? Why is it immoral to help and be helped? All that authoritarian malarkey about making people dependent on you is an excuse to be selfish and competitive. You want to keep following Ronald Reagan and be rugged individualists or Ayn Rand and be greedy fascists and paranoid anarchists- go right ahead, I obviously can't convince you not to.

Me, I'm happier with Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. I'd rather be positive, constructive, and interconnected than angry, suspicious and defensive. If you think I'm some kind of "Socialist" for believing that government is her to protect us from corporations instead of corporations being here to protect us from government- then I guess that's the way it's gonna be, but we're still all in this together even if you don't want us to be.

Excellent Quote

“My darkness has been filled with the light of intelligence, and behold, the outer day-lit world was stumbling and groping in social blindness” ~Helen Keller

Inspiring wisdom

"The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker."

"People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant."

"There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his."

"Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained."

~Helen Keller

I was looking for just one Keller quote that I saw on a mural in the Polk County Activities Center this weekend. I never could find it, but I did find a whole slew, which I posted on this and two other blogs! You knew that Keller overcame deafness and blindness to become an inspiring speaker and accomplished author- but did you know that she was an outspoken opponent of war, that she she campaigned for women's right to vote, workers' rights, racial tolerance and many other progressive causes?

Responsibility and Compassion

"We are all called to give back. Since there is nothing we can take with us from this life, we should try to leave behind as much as possible- it's a basic and well known truth. Those of us who have been blessed with worldly success have an even greater responsibility to make an impact with our time, talents, and resources; as we are reminded in the Gospels, 'From him to whom much is given, much is expected (Luke 12:48).'"

~John Wooden, 'A Game Plan for Life,' 2009

Our problem

"People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions.
Conclusions are not always pleasant."
~Helen Keller

Think; it's everyone's responsibility

"opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it."
- Jef Mallett

Legalism sucks! Grace RULES! Boo Pharisees! Yeah Jesus!

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their own desires."
~Susan B Anthony

Free Speech

"Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty, there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population." ~Albert Einstein

Why we have to put up with FOX NEWS

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
- Thomas Jefferson

Great Quotes

"We claim we believe in compassion, which is an abstract, and when it's personified we discredit the man"
— Mort Sahl


"The distance between taking social action and having the knowledge is as wide as the mouth of the Mississippi."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)


"I don't think fascism is dying for."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)


"That feeling of hopelessness only serves your masters."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)


"You know what I want you to do? I want you to blow out the candle and curse the darkness."
— Mort Sahl (Heartland)

"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."
— Mort Sahl


"The bravest thing that men do is love women."
— Mort Sahl


"You haven't lived until you've died in California"
— Mort Sahl


"Washington couldn't tell a lie, Nixon couldn't tell the truth, and Reagan couldn't tell the difference."
— Mort Sahl


"Reagan won because he ran against Jimmy Carter. If he ran unopposed he would have lost."
— Mort Sahl


"A conservative is someone who believes in reform. But not now."
— Mort Sahl

"Portrait of Picasso" mixed media, 1994 "Everything you can imagine is real". ~Picasso

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