The time we are living in is the greatest opportunity to be queer, and it is almost the most dangerous time because everything is up for grabs.
Binyavanga WainainaRead
At any given time, there are a lot of million-dollar luxury charter boats cruising around the Mentawai Islands finding the most incredible waves. And yet the people on shore are suffering. The whole scene is wrong. As a surf community, we have to do something.
Interpretation
Wealth and privilege can exist alongside suffering, urging the community to take action.
In this quote, Rob Machado highlights the stark contrast between the lavish lifestyles of those aboard luxury charter boats and the struggles faced by people onshore in the Mentawai Islands. He emphasizes the responsibility of the surf community to acknowledge this disparity and to actively work towards making a positive change, suggesting that enjoying luxury comes with an ethical obligation to support those in need.
In practice
In a speech about social responsibility during a surf competition.
The time we are living in is the greatest opportunity to be queer, and it is almost the most dangerous time because everything is up for grabs.
All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs.
The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated.
No, we are not anti-white. But we don't have time for the white man. The white man is on top already, the white man is the boss already ... He has first-class citizenship already. So you are wasting your time talking to the white man. We are working on our own people.
Perhaps one day, all these conflicts will end, and it won't be because of great statesmen or churches or organisations like this one. It'll be because people have changed. They'll be like you, Puffin. More a mixture. So why not become a mongrel? It's healthy.
Now I am setting out into the unknown. It will take me a long while to work through the grief. There are no shortcuts; it has to be gone through.
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