My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.
Interpretation
Our shared humanity connects us, and we can fully experience our humanity only in relation to others.
Desmond Tutu's quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of human beings, suggesting that our individual humanity is intrinsically linked to the humanity of others. It highlights the importance of relationships and community in achieving a fuller understanding of what it means to be human, reinforcing the idea that we thrive through mutual support and compassion.
In practice
In a speech about community service, I might say, 'As Desmond Tutu said, 'My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.'
The fossil reserves that have already been discovered exceed what can ever be safely used. Yet companies spend half a trillion dollars each year searching for more fuel. They should redirect this money toward developing clean energy solutions
As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression, and injustice, the world has an even greateer instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love.
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone's back.
Gaza is going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.
In some instances, you may care so much about the person who has hurt you, or be so unable to be angry with him (or with anyone), that you rationalize his hurtful acts by finding some basis in your own actions for his hurtful behavior; you then feel guilty rather than angry. Put in other terms, you become angry with yourself rather than with the one who hurt you.
A woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy.
The essential problems remain the same... The kids I write about are asking for the same things I wanted. They want two contradictory things. They want to be the same as everyone else, and they want to be different from everyone else. They want acceptance for both.
If we stop believing in a future, if we stop doing things for something else but start doing them for now, some fundamental things change. Retirement becomes less about how much money you can squirrel away now and much more a matter of participating and contributing to your own community now so that they want to take care of you. β¦ Weβre going to move into a world where your retirement will be more secure if youβve made lots of friends with young people rather than collected lots of dollars.
Absence may or may not make the heart grow fonder, but it certainly freshens the eye.
That is why we have to make room in our lives for people who may sometimes disappoint or exasperate us. If we hold our friends to a standard of perfection, or if they do that to us, we will end up far lonelier than we want to be.
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