Give what you have. To someone else it

may be better than dare you think.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community …

and as long as I live,

it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

George Bernard Shaw

Hope is not about believing that we can change things.

Hope is believing that what we do makes a difference.

Vaclav Havel

They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can't

make him drink. But I say, you can salt the oats.

Madeline Hunter

The Broken Place

This is the daily miracle

That glancing off each granite face

The seed at last finds lodging

In the broken place

And from the heart of the cleft

Sprouts grace, springs green.

Anonymous

Listening looks easy, but it’s not simple. Every head is a world.

Cuban Proverb

You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going,

because you might not get there.

Yogi Berra

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein

Let us not underestimate how hard it is to listen and to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely and broken. But … our spontaneous response … is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it. As busy, active, relevant people we want to [make] a real contribution. This means … doing something to show that our presence makes a difference. And so we ignore our greatest gift, which is our ability to be there, to listen and to enter into solidarity with those who suffer.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

If you don't believe one person can make a difference,

you have never been in bed with a mosquito.
Anita Roddick

True life is lived when tiny changes occur.

Leo Tolstoy

Listening deescalates conflict. People who know that someone is

listening to them become less fearful because they feel valued.

Gardner C. Hanks

All sorrows can be borne if you put them

into a story or tell a story about them.

Isak Dinesen

One of the remarkable qualities of the story is

that it creates space. We can dwell in a story,

walk around, find our own place. The story confronts but

does not oppress; the story inspires but

does not manipulate. The story invites us to

an encounter, a dialog, a mutual sharing.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

We work in an environment where trust is

as fragile as an African violet.

Abron Morgan

Poverty is slavery.

African Proverb

We are called to heal wounds,

to unite what has fallen apart, and

to bring home those who have lost their way.

Francis of Assisi

You can look at a scar and see hurt, or

you can look at a scar and see healing.

Sheri Reynolds

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.
Ethiopian Proverb

Together we are wiser than any one of us alone.

Source Unknown

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can

change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment

which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their

meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.

Martin Luther King Jr.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Unknown

With a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair.
Persian Proverb

Listening well is as powerful a means

of communication and influence as to talk well.

John Marshall

Ethics is how we behave when we decide we belong together.

David Steindl-Rast

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
What is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de St. Exupéry from "The Little Prince"

Always do right. This will gratify

some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain

Mother Theresa had this on her wall …

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends

and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, some could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It never was between you and them anyway.

Of all forms of inequality, injustice in

health care is the most shocking and inhumane.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are not victims of the (external) world, we are its co-creators.

Vaclav Havel

My Dream

All people should have a house with food and water

All people should have freedom of speech

All people should be able to go to the doctor

All people should be able to have a job

All people should have peace

All people who do, or did, drugs or drink should be helped

All people should have friends

I also think that people shouldn’t make fun of other people because of their color

Because we all bleed the same color and that’s what matters.

Andre

(boy staying in homeless shelter)

The finest act of love you can perform is not an act of service,

but an act of contemplation, of seeing. When you serve …

you help, support, comfort, alleviate pain.

When you see (others) in their inner beauty and goodness

you transform and create.

Anthony DeMello

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet that

clings fast to the heel that crushed it.
George Roemisch

The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the

most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be

carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender

to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is

to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence.

The frenzy of the activist neutralizes one’s work for peace.

It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s work, because it kills the root

of inner wisdom, which makes work fruitful.

Thomas Merton

A Blessing

May you be blessed

With discomfort at easy answers,

Half-truths, and superficial relationships,

So that you will live

Deep in your heart.

May you be blessed

With anger at injustice, oppression, and

Exploitation of people and the earth

So that you will work for

Justice, equity, and peace.

May you be blessed

With tears to shed for those who suffer

So you will reach out your hand

To comfort them and

Change their pain into joy.

And may you be blessed

With the foolishness to think

That you can make a difference in the world,

So you will do the things

Which others say cannot be done.

Source unknown