Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Finding Hope in the Midst of Tragedy and Evil













I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him.

Martin Luther King Jr.

5 comments:

Katya said...

I believe it also - but with addition that this change comes small, from each individual. Another words - if you want change, start with yourself.... Because that is ultimately all each one of us is in control of.

Daniel Wilcox said...

Hi Katya,

I agree with your point. Sometimes I think we don't even have as much control of ourselves as we think.

Thanks for stopping by.
Some days when I think about my blog and my writing, I begin to wonder if I am just writing to the wind. I seldom get comments and my books aren't selling. Real bummer.

But MLK and other leaders still give me hope.

Katya said...

Hi Dan,
To be fair, I wonder the same thing about my blog - most of the time I get no comments. So, don't despair - you are not alone in this.
As for books not selling - we all know that sales is not an indication of talent -and vice versa... So don't give up.
Call Joseph some time, maybe we could all get together for coffee and catch up.
Peace. :)

Hystery said...

My history lessons often focus on individuals, groups, and movements who did seemingly impossible things against seemingly impossible odds. They stood up against all manner of oppression, violence, bigotry, and inhumanity. I want my students to see how perfectly ordinary these people were and how very tired they became and sometimes discouraged or worse. I want them to see that they were small and fragile people standing against immense evils and that win or lose, the point was that they stood up.

I find myself teaching against apathy and despair which is, in many ways, a bit hypocritical since I am so often right there in the midst of it. But I think maybe (and I can give several examples from history) being there in the midst of it (or at least stopping by for a visit) helps us become more fierce in our hopefulness. I'm not sure why this is so, but it does seem to be. Another mystery, I suppose, but there it is.

Daniel Wilcox said...

Hello Hystery and Katya,

Thanks for commenting.

Now I know I don't live and write in a vacuum;-)

Daniel