Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.
Alex HaleyRead
In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage- to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.
Interpretation
Understanding our heritage is essential for a fulfilling life and identity.
Alex Haley's quote emphasizes the fundamental human need to connect with our roots and heritage. Without this knowledge of where we come from, we may feel a deep-seated emptiness and loneliness despite any accomplishments or successes we may attain in life.
In practice
During a family reunion, one could reference this quote to spark discussions about ancestry.
Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.
Tying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.
That's what happens with writing. Ingredients bubble and cook. Material becomes substance.
I think one of the most fascinating things you can do after you learn about your own people is to study something about the history and culture of other people.
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.
The need to be right can arise from a fear of being disrespected. Or it may come out of the fear of being seen as we really are: as flawed human beings who are perfectly imperfect and full of contradictions and confusions.
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
It's politely assumed that democracy is a means of containing and restraining violence. But violence comes not from genes but from ideas
The Assembly has witnessed over the last weeks how historical truth is established; once an allegation has been repeated a few times, it is no longer an allegation, it is an established fact, even if no evidence has been brought out in order to support it.
The city is like poetry; it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.
Don't you know that a midnight hour comes when everyone has to take off his mask? Do you think life always lets itself be trifled with? Do you think you can sneak off a little before midnight to escape this?
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