In the reading I’ve done over the past several months, I’ve found some ideas that I found very thought-provoking. The first three are rather bleak; the last three are more positive.
This quotation is taken from FDR’s January 1937 Second Inaugural Address during the Dust Bowl years:
I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. . . . The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
In 2022, Louisiana had the highest state poverty level at 18.2 percent and our national poverty rate was 11.5 percent. We still have a long way to go to properly care for “those who have too little,” even while the wealthiest people become increasingly wealthy and legislators look for ways to decrease poverty-directed support programs such as Head Start, free school lunches, Medicaid, SNAP qualifications, etc.
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This paragraph comes from a Jodi Picoult book. I don’t remember which one, but I think it might have been Great Small Things.
Start with the sentence The unborn baby is a person. Replace the words unborn baby with the words Immigrant. African-American. Trans woman. Jew. Muslim.
Jodi Picoult
Ted and I have traveled in 36 countries and have been in all 50 of the United States. While each destination is unique, the one thing we have found that they all have in common is that people are the same wherever we go. Every individual is a person with whom we have more commonalities than differences.
This was made very clear to me when I worked with one of my professors as a graduate assistant. He was involved in a project to develop community schools in the poorest areas of St. Louis City. At those meetings, I heard people say that living in a poor neighborhood (most would call this area a ghetto) was an advantage because you could afford to buy a home. Combined with that, they wished their neighbors would keep their homes and yards neat so the neighborhood would look nicer. Parents were adamant that they didn’t want their teenage sons to be killed by or because of drugs, and they prayed their daughters would not become pregnant in high school. These values definitely align with those in the most expensive neighborhoods.
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In Percival Everett’s 2024 book, James, there is a paragraph where James discusses truth and lies. Pay attention to the last sentence.
, , , “But dey was stealin’ from dem folk. Tellin’ lies lak dey was. He weren’t neber no pirate.”
“Yes, but them people liked it, Jim. Did you see their faces? They had to know them was lies, but they wanted to believe. What do you make of that?”
“Folks be funny lak dat. Dey takes the lies dey want and throws away the truths dat scares ’em.”
Percivall Everett in his book “James.”
Yes, we all do that. Sometimes it doesn’t matter; sometimes it matters a lot.
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In her 1992 poem, “The Summer Day,” Mary Oliver says:
Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
I’ve never thought of my life as wild, but I love the way Oliver makes me feel like my life can make a difference and that I should not waste it.
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Gilbert K. Chesterton makes the same point.
The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
I think the majority of us feel there is nothing outstandingly special or important about our everyday lives, but Chesterton feels differently about us. When I think about it, he’s absolutely right.
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Finally, just to simplify your literacy life, I’ll close with the words of John Gardener.
There are only two plots in all of literature: (1) A person goes on a journey; and (2) A stranger comes to town.
John Gardener
Now I’m wondering if our lives have only those same two plots. My journey through life has brought me much–love, family, friends, happiness, sadness, education, fun, skills, experiences, and so much more.
The strangers I’ve met have all been interesting in one way or another–sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. Some of them have been important to me for a relatively short period of time; others are lifelong friends. Nearly all of them have added to my experience and to my life’s journey.
I think Gardener is right: our lives and our stories are shaped by those two plots.