Tuesday, May 3, 2011

quotes that relieved my soul.....

so my energy wasn't at its highest yesterday.

the celebrating of the death of bin laden threw me for a loop.

i'm not stupid.
i understand the deal.
and yet....it isn't okay with me.

i was too overwhelmed with life to have the energy to figure out
how to say it yesterday. i just closed inside myself.

josh brought it up on the way to the hospital, and it did my heart
such good to hear his heart.

later that evening, i read an article that made me profoundly sad.
it talked of the glory of the seal who got to fire the bullet.
i closed my laptop, deciding i had enough sadness for the day.

i asked noah how his friends were reacting to the news.
he has a whole lot of foreign friends on facebook and i was wondering
how they were.

we got to talking about the reactions.
and again, his heart was so good for mine.

he said that he was thinking of posting a MLK quote.
my brain was pretty beat by then, and didn't know which quote but i nodded
and headed off to take a shower.

headin' to my room after the shower, i walked by him on the couch.
he laughed and told me my cousin had popped up the very
quote he was thinking of on facebook.

he immediately grabbed it to share.
picking my laptop up once again, i popped it up on my own page.

immediately, people started responding. so many friends needed that quote.
so many friends had been overwhelmed today too, hit deep today too,
and also had stayed quiet.

i watched the quote zoom around on so many pages.
i watched so many people just say 'thank you.'

and my soul sighed in relief.

i needed to see that.
i needed a boost in humanity belief.
it helped so much.

here's the quote that we put up last nite.....

‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that" ~Martin Luther King, Jr

it was then pointed out that the original quote that isn't changed and is entirely dr. king's actually goes like this:

Why should we love our enemies? The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." ~Martin Luther King Jr, "Strength to Love" (1963)

and then someone else just pointed out that mark twain wrote this:
"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."

i knew i liked those guys......

holding on to my hope in humanity.......

2 comments:

Angie said...

Reading this helped soothe my soul today, so thank you. A friend of mine shared this article, which I also appreciated.
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/05/osama-bin-ladens-death-a-time-to-reflect-not-celebrate/

Grace said...

Yes, I was one who posted that quote on my own FB site yesterday.

Even if it were all true (and, skeptic that I am, I believe there is more to the story than - well, 'The Story'), I think we have lost our way when we Americans act like those we've seen - and criticized - in the past, in other lands, dancing and shouting and gyrating with glee over the death of some person.

In fact, reading all the "WhooYa, Thatta Boy!" posts by the wave flagging "patriots", many of whom consider themselves "christians" - that helped spur me on to deactivating my FB account. I realized early in the day that - at least among my own 'friends' - I was a lone voice crying out in the wilderness.

So...I've retreated to blogland yet again, to find solace. To find peace. To find "real" community.

To find love.