quote of the day:
history, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. ~ Maya Angelou
today i took this picture of the church where i work. when i saw the picture in black & white, i couldn’t help but think of the past. of all the people who have been a part of the church, of all the people who have passed by the church & never given it a second thought. i also thought of the homeless, alcoholics who have gathered daily by the clump of trees & benches just outside the front of the church. i thought about the building that once stood behind the now empty lot behind the fence. i thought about the fact that the church is in the middle of the downtown area, where people have walked year after year. i thought about all of the things that a church is, and is supposed to be. and i thought about all of us… and where we are as a human race.
maya angelou says that if we face our pasts, our mistakes – as individuals & as a society – then we need not live through them again. so, i began to wonder… how have we treated those who are outsiders, those who feel hopeless, those who live life unsure of where they are going to sleep, those who live with violence all around them, or are filled with anxiety & fear? how have we treated those who are different from us, who look differently, act differently, believe different things, live different ways from us?
in the past, we, as a human race, have sought power, greed, personal security & gain. we have cared more about ourselves, our possessions, and our personal time than creating a community, sharing our lives with others, sacrificing for the greater good. we have been egotistical and self-centered. but, it doesn’t have to be that way. and this picture reminds me of all of the possibilities we have to learn from our past and create a new future together. one based on justice & equality.
just something i’m thinking about…
peace to you all.
I think human greed, selfishness and arrogance is still ruling history. The capacity of humans for self-destruction is unbelievable and their inability to live in balance with the ecosystem due to those traits above is causing all the problems we are facing. The lack of empathy is saddening and I feel that history is simply repeating itself over and over, albeit in more modernised ways.
Natalie, I completely agree with you that we are currently still living in a world caught up in the same mistakes of the past = the present keeps repeating the past. My hope is that, one by one, we will realize this and one day we will stop making the same mistakes over & over again. I know, I’m a dreamer & an idealist. 🙂 But, I believe & hope in a world that learns, albeit ever so slowly, to move forward. Thanks for your comment!
Liz, dreamers and idealists are the ones who change the world. Never stop dreaming, it is powerful. I also consider myself a dreamer and idealist.