I tore up and ate my own passport in an airport hotel once. I'm bloated with language I can’t afford to forget.
Warsan ShireRead
At one point, early on, some public figures even asked whether it 'made sense' to rebuild New Orleans. Would you let your own mother die because it didn't make financial sense to spend the money to treat her, or because you were too busy to spend the time to heal her sick spirit?
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the moral obligation to care for others, prioritizing human dignity over financial considerations.
Tom Piazza's quote highlights the ethical dilemma faced when considering the rebuilding of New Orleans after its devastation. By comparing the city to a mother in need of care, he suggests that the decision to invest in restoration should be based on compassion and humanity rather than merely financial sense, urging people to prioritize emotional and spiritual healing over practicality.
In practice
During a speech about urban renewal, one could quote this to highlight the importance of caring for communities.
I tore up and ate my own passport in an airport hotel once. I'm bloated with language I can’t afford to forget.
Africa, help me to go home, carry me like an aged child in your arms. Undress me and wash me. Strip me of all of these garments, strip me as a man strips off dreams when the dawn comes. . . .
Southerners love a good tale. They are born reciters, great memory retainers, diary keepers, letter exchangers . . . great talkers.
The fact that a man has no claim on others ... does not preclude or prohibit good will among men and does not make it immoral to offer or to accept voluntary, non-sacrificial assistance.
The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny; flattery to treachery; standing armies to arbitrary government; and the glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy.
Veganism has given me a higher level of awareness and spirituality, primary because the energy associated with eating has shifted to other areas. If you’re violent to yourself by putting [harmful] things into your body that violate its spirit, it will be difficult not to perpetuate that [violence] onto someone else.
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