What it means to be human is to bring up your children in safety, educate them, keep them healthy, teach them how to care for themselves and others, allow them to develop in their own way among adults who are sane and responsibile, who know the value of the world and not its economic potential. It means art, it means time, it means all the invisibles never counted by the GDP and the census figures. It means knowing that life has an inside as well as an outside. And I think it means love.
Interpretation
Being human involves nurturing and educating children in a safe environment while prioritizing love and understanding over economic values.
This quote by Jeanette Winterson emphasizes that to truly understand what it means to be human, one must focus on the holistic upbringing of children. This includes providing safety, education, healthcare, and emotional support while fostering their individuality in a nurturing environment. Winterson highlights the importance of recognizing non-material values, such as love and art, which contribute significantly to a child's development and understanding of life.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a parenting workshop to emphasize holistic child development.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
I made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But all I want in this world is for my kids to say, 'He was a Hall of Fame dad.'
We must work tirelessly to make sure that every boy and girl in America who is up for adoption has a family waiting to reach him or her...This is a season of miracles, and perhaps there is no greater miracle than finding a loving home for a child who needs one.
A workplace culture where fathers are encouraged to take paternity leave would result in stronger families, a more equal labour market and a better economy.
You parents of the wilful and the wayward! Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were His before they were yours - long before He entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as He loves them.
The maternal duty of suckling her own children, prescribed to mothers by hygienists, is based on a physiological principle: the mother's milk nourishes an infant more perfectly than any other.
Your success as a family... our success as a nation... depends not on what happens inside the White House, but on what happens inside your house.
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