by what we love

RCC_5950, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Icon

RC1_0088, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

An icon is designed to be not a beautiful

work of art, but a window into divine

mysteries. It points beyond itself.

M. Craig Barnes, The Pastor As Minor Poet: Texts and

Subtexts in the Ministerial Life

Justice

DSC_2204, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Justice constitutes the first condition of humanity. 

Wole Soyinka, The Burden of Memory, The Muse of Forgiveness

Writer

DSC_5850, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     The writer, unless he is a mere word
     processor, retains three attributes
     that power-mad regimes cannot
     tolerate; a human imagination, in
     many forms it may take; the power to
     communicate; and hope.
       
       Margaret Atwood

Words

Peace in Arabic[1]
Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

Lo que dicen las palabras no dura. Duran las palabras. Porque las palabras son siempre las mismas y lo que dicen no es nunca lo mismo.


What words say does not last. The words last. Because words are always the same, and what they say is never the same.

Antonio Porchia, trans., W. S. Merwin, Voices

Children & War

DSC_3938
Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

The time has come to make the protection of children – all our children – a common cause that can unite us across the boundaries of our political orientation, religious affiliation and cultural traditions. We must reclaim our lost taboos, and make the abuse and brutalization of children simply unacceptable.

*   *   *

But today, to paraphrase the poet W.B. Yeats, things have fallen apart, the moral centre is no longer holding. In so many conflicts today, anything goes. Children, women, the elderly, granary stores, crops, livestock – all have become fair game in the single-minded struggle for power, in an attempt not just to prevail but to humiliate, not simply to subdue but to annihilate the “enemy community” altogether. This is the phenomenon of total war.

Olara Otunnu, Ugandan 2011 Presidential Candidate

Asleep

DSC_6116
Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

There's nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Upright

DSC_6188
Originally uploaded by rchoephoto

There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is, upright.

Dylan Thomas

Miracle

A miracle is not defined by an event.  A miracle is defined by gratitude.

Kate Braestrup, Here If You Need Me: A True Story

Imperative of Humanity

To make pain real is the task of the writer.  To pursue the end of pain is the imperative of humanity.

Alice Sebold