May each of you live lives of immersion. They won't necessarily be easy lives. But in the end, it is all that will sustain us.
Jacqueline NovogratzRead
When we were walking through the narrow alleys [of the Mathare Valley slums], it was literally impossible not to step in the raw sewage and the garbage alongside the little homes. But at the same time it was also impossible not to see the human vitality, the aspiration and the ambition of the people who live there.
Interpretation
The quote contrasts the harsh living conditions of the Mathare Valley slums with the strong spirit and aspirations of its residents.
Jacqueline Novogratz's quote highlights the paradox of life in the Mathare Valley slums, where the bleak environment is starkly juxtaposed with the perseverance and hope of its inhabitants. Despite the presence of sewage and garbage, the vitality and ambition of the people shine through, illustrating that human spirit can thrive even in the most challenging circumstances.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a presentation about poverty and resilience in urban environments.
May each of you live lives of immersion. They won't necessarily be easy lives. But in the end, it is all that will sustain us.
When people gain income, they gain choice, and that is fundamental to dignity.
I've been working on issues of poverty for more than 20 years, and so it's ironic that the problem that and question that I most grapple with is how you actually define poverty. What does it mean?
The poor don't live in functional market economies as the rest of us do, but in political economies where corruption and broken systems extend from local government to moneylenders.
Each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And it's in the total of all those acts that the history of this generation will be written.
Don't let people tell you to do it this way. You are on the verge of figuring out hybrid models -- with companies and nonprofits, markets, government, crowd-sourced philanthropy. The capitalist system as we know it is not working.
Some women wait for themselves around the next corner and call the empty spot peace but the opposite of living is only not living and the stars do not care.
I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.
Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it, spend time with your families.
Everything was good. But it was awful, too.
It is true that I have had heartache and tragedy in my life. These are things none of us avoids. Suffering is the price of being alive.
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
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