no. 762

“Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

no. 761

 “Those who are determined to be ‘offended’ will discover a provocation somewhere. We cannot possibly adjust enough to please the fanatics, and it is degrading to make the attempt,” 

Christopher Hitchens. 

no. 760

 Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."

We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.

- Ira Byock.

no. 759

“In a human sacrifice to deity there might be at least a mistaken and terrible beauty; in the rites of the moneychangers, where greed, laziness, and envy were assumed to move all men's acts, even the terrible became banal.”

Ursula K. LeGuin

no. 758

 “It's always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and settle in. Don't make changes, don't risk disapproval, don't upset your syndics. It's always easiest to let yourself be governed.”

Ursula K. LeGuin

no. 757

 “ Dictatorships murder poets because poets convey the feeling of a people.”

Sarah Kendzior

no. 756

“When I was in college, I studied Ancient Greek for one year, a consequence of reading too much Donna Tartt in high school. While seemingly impractical, studying Ancient Greek was a solid move for someone who writes in English. I started breaking down words into parts I recognized from ancient roots, especially in politics, where kratos – power, or rule – would appear. Autocracy: rule by one man. Kleptocracy: rule by thieves.

Democracy: rule by the people.

Whenever I hear Americans proclaim that democracy is either dead or eternal (it is often the same politicians speaking in extremes, usually while they are asking you for money), I return to the root: the power of the people.

I do not instinctively reject the word “democracy” because it was not imposed on me by a foreign country. It is the power to which I am entitled but never received. Democracy was never fully realized in the United States and has been stripped away even more over my lifetime.

But I feel the word in my soul in a way that is natural – the way you feel a poem.”

Sarah Kendzior, Out of Words

no. 755

“Demokratiya had become cheap and cruel: a buzzword the government sells with a sneer as the mafia state shakes you down; a lure NGOs peddle as they promise to solve your problems without hearing what they are.  Demokratiya was a sign that someone did not have your back unless they were painting a target on it. The word is still viewed that way in many states of the former Soviet Union that proclaimed themselves “democracies” while remaining dictatorships.”

Sarah Kendzior, Out of Words, describing how many people in former Soviet states (and probably others) feel about Western preaching about democracy. 

no. 754

“We live in a world where funerals are more important than death, marriage is more important than love and looks are more important than the soul.

We live in a packaging culture that despises content. "

Jodie foster