I've often said that the most important thing you can give your children is wings. Because, you're not gonna always be able to bring food to the nest. You're... sometimes... they're gonna have to be able to fly by themselves.
Elizabeth EdwardsRead
What happened after Katrina is that people were stirred to action; there were an enormous number of contributions by people trying to make a difference. But then we forget. We've forgotten Katrina victims, we've forgotten the face of poverty.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the fleeting nature of public support for social issues, highlighting the need for sustained action and awareness.
Elizabeth Edwards emphasizes that, while the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ignited a wave of humanitarian efforts and contributions from people willing to help, such momentum is often temporary. There is a tendency to forget the ongoing struggles faced by victims and marginalized communities, underscoring the importance of continuous engagement and advocacy for social justice.
In practice
In a fundraising speech to encourage ongoing support for disaster relief efforts.
I've often said that the most important thing you can give your children is wings. Because, you're not gonna always be able to bring food to the nest. You're... sometimes... they're gonna have to be able to fly by themselves.
I've had to come to grips with a God that fits my own experience, which is, my God could not be offering protection and not have protected my boy.
Part of resilience is deciding to make yourself miserable over something that matters, or deciding to make yourself miserable over something that doesn't matter.
I'm not a victim - I never want to be perceived that way.
I certainly have a lot to lament, as do we all, everybody has their griefs. But the griefs we can fix, shouldn't we go around fixing them?
... all things are possible if you are willing to put yourself on the line. You cannot stand back and hope for the best. You have to act.
The insistence on complete certainty about the full details of global warming-the most serious threat we have ever faced-is actually an effort to avoid facing the awful, uncomfortable truth: that we must act boldly, decisively, comprehensively, and quickly, even before we know every last detail about the crisis. Those who continue to argue that the appropriate response is merely additional research are simply seeking to camouflage timidity or protect their vested interest in the status quo.
We know, at least, that this decision (ending factory farming) will help prevent deforestation, curb global warming, reduce pollution, save oil reserves, lessen the burden on rural America, decrease human rights abuses, improve publish health, and help eliminate the most systematic animal abuse in history.
Nobody looks like they did when they were 20, so why not take advantage of the fact that you're changing, emotionally as well as physically?
Not to wax nostalgic about the 1970s, but back then people got upset when they saw injustice. They got tired of seeing our air, land and water polluted. They were shocked when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was polluted so badly it caught fire. And on one great day 20 million Americans marched all across this land. Politicians had no choice but to take notice.
Left unchecked, climate change risks not only making the poorest poorer, but pulling the emerging middle classes back into poverty, too.
We are either going to have a future where women lead the way to make peace with the Earth or we are not going to have a human future at all.
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