Forgiveness is truly the grace by which we enable another person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew.
TUTU DESMONDDear Child of God, I am sorry to say that suffering is not optional.
More Tutu Desmond Quotes
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When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.
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Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don’t have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.
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It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.
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Transformation begins in you, wherever you are, whatever has happened, however you are suffering. Transformation is always possible.
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Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other.
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I wish I could shut up, but I can’t, and I won’t.
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We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know.
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Within every hopeless situation and every seemingly hopeless person lies the possibility of transformation
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We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreaks without being broken.
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You show your humanity by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection to others.
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We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.
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To protect our children, we must talk to them about rape.
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Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
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A very important but difficult piece of renewing relationships is accepting responsibility for our part in any conflict.
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Dear Child of God, I write these words because we all experience sadness, we all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that the suffering in our lives and in the world will ever end.
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We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy.
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Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering–remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.
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We are not responsible for what breaks us, but we can be responsible for what puts us back together again. Naming the hurt is how we begin to repair our broken parts.
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There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream to find out why they’re falling in.
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We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water.
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There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.
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In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.
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If you are setting out to be joyful you are not going to end up being joyful. You’re going to find yourself turned in on yourself. It’s like a flower. You open, you blossom, really because of other people.
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A person is a person through other persons.
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Much depends on your attitude. If you are filled with negative judgment and anger, then you will feel separate from other people. You will feel lonely.
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If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
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