"TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
— Howard Zinn
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Friday, July 25, 2008
It's amazing what difference time can make. It's amazing the great things God can do in your life. My life is a true testament of how God can change things around in such a mighty way! Two years ago, I was desperate, lost my marriage, was in bad shape money wise, made very little money to support myself and my son. I prayed earnestly, if only I could make X dollars my life would be so much better. I wanted it then, but God had a different plan. It's like I was walking around in the desert and I didn't like it. It hurt and I felt that after all the suffering, I deserved better. God has taught me patience, I'm still learning but two years later, I am making the X dollars I asked God for and more in such a miraculous way!
Do not ever doubt what God can do in your life. Trust him fully and you will experience that he is all you need. I'm still in awe of how God came through for me. I start a new job and essentially a new life. I'm taking 2.5 weeks of vacation, I figured I should, I haven't taken vacay in three years because I always cashed it out. The Bible is not playing when it states that if we pray and call unto God, he will answer our prayers. Pray, ask other people to pray for you, I believe that the prayers of my parents and other people have probably taken me further than my own because I was so distressed, inconsistent and sometimes not believing, but God hears them all. He has answered my prayers yet again!
Do not ever doubt what God can do in your life. Trust him fully and you will experience that he is all you need. I'm still in awe of how God came through for me. I start a new job and essentially a new life. I'm taking 2.5 weeks of vacation, I figured I should, I haven't taken vacay in three years because I always cashed it out. The Bible is not playing when it states that if we pray and call unto God, he will answer our prayers. Pray, ask other people to pray for you, I believe that the prayers of my parents and other people have probably taken me further than my own because I was so distressed, inconsistent and sometimes not believing, but God hears them all. He has answered my prayers yet again!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
attitude to inspire
I have come to the point where I can accept that life is just the way it is. Neither a pessimistic or optimistic view, I consider it a healthy balance. The pessimist in me used to see life as innocent people suffer, the evil become rich, the rich become richer, the poor even poorer. I had even scaled down this theory to apply to me; I worked hard and I didn’t get the job, it just seemed that everyone who was doing everything I considered wrong was the only one who was getting ahead. After a few church services, I would be filled with hope eternal only to swing back to poor me when something went terribly wrong. Life happens and that is all there is to it. I realized that the quicker I accepted that fact, the better my life would be. No one is out to get me, I didn’t pick an unlucky number.
I remember someone once told me that if we could all put our troubles in a pile, we would be content in picking our own right back. It’s true, even with my own baggage, I meet people with whom I would never trade places, and then I meet people my age who have accomplished so much more, and I start to pity myself. It’s the cycle and futility of this life. At some point, you are up and then down, some people always seem to be up and others always seem to be down. But those who are up could be just as happy or unhappy as those who are down. Someone asked me yesterday how I was doing. In all honesty, I answered ‘Very well’. My life hasn’t changed too much from what has been causing me chaos in the past few months or years but my attitude has.
Last night I watched a PBS documentary about the lives of two Somali families who lived for years at a refugee camp in Kenya and recently resettled in the US. There are horror stories all around but every now and then I get one that grips me. There was one woman whose husband left her to take care of four kids. She had seen her parents brutally murdered, ran for days, lost her two oldest kids in the scatter, lived in a refugee camp, and the story began as they were getting ready to resettle in America. It is a powerful documentary but the one thing I will never forget is the face of that single mother. Despite her living situation and even her husband abandoning her at the camp, she had the brightest face ever, the most positive energy. She was happy for her kids that were there, she was happy about her first job washing floors, her paycheck meager as it was, her small apartment in Atlanta. She sang when she talked about her husband who abandoned her, saying how tired she was of waiting for him to show up.Of course there was sadness as she spoke of her parent's death, not knowing where her kids were, the pressure of being a single mom but she did not dwell on all of that.If you had just caught a piece of documentary, you would think that this woman had everything she wanted just by the way she smiled and the vibe she gave. At the end of the documentary, she is preparing for her daughter’s wedding and she was not nagging about the cake, the bridesmaids dresses, the number of guests, none of that crap that plagues most of us who have ten times as much. Her ability to overcome her surroundings and not let all the negativity weigh her down was phenomenal. There are people who inspire others just by being. If I could accomplish one thing in this life is to be one such person, that I can live my life so someone else is inspired.
I remember someone once told me that if we could all put our troubles in a pile, we would be content in picking our own right back. It’s true, even with my own baggage, I meet people with whom I would never trade places, and then I meet people my age who have accomplished so much more, and I start to pity myself. It’s the cycle and futility of this life. At some point, you are up and then down, some people always seem to be up and others always seem to be down. But those who are up could be just as happy or unhappy as those who are down. Someone asked me yesterday how I was doing. In all honesty, I answered ‘Very well’. My life hasn’t changed too much from what has been causing me chaos in the past few months or years but my attitude has.
Last night I watched a PBS documentary about the lives of two Somali families who lived for years at a refugee camp in Kenya and recently resettled in the US. There are horror stories all around but every now and then I get one that grips me. There was one woman whose husband left her to take care of four kids. She had seen her parents brutally murdered, ran for days, lost her two oldest kids in the scatter, lived in a refugee camp, and the story began as they were getting ready to resettle in America. It is a powerful documentary but the one thing I will never forget is the face of that single mother. Despite her living situation and even her husband abandoning her at the camp, she had the brightest face ever, the most positive energy. She was happy for her kids that were there, she was happy about her first job washing floors, her paycheck meager as it was, her small apartment in Atlanta. She sang when she talked about her husband who abandoned her, saying how tired she was of waiting for him to show up.Of course there was sadness as she spoke of her parent's death, not knowing where her kids were, the pressure of being a single mom but she did not dwell on all of that.If you had just caught a piece of documentary, you would think that this woman had everything she wanted just by the way she smiled and the vibe she gave. At the end of the documentary, she is preparing for her daughter’s wedding and she was not nagging about the cake, the bridesmaids dresses, the number of guests, none of that crap that plagues most of us who have ten times as much. Her ability to overcome her surroundings and not let all the negativity weigh her down was phenomenal. There are people who inspire others just by being. If I could accomplish one thing in this life is to be one such person, that I can live my life so someone else is inspired.
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