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.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that some women seek fulfillment in an unattainable future while ignoring the present reality of life.
Audre Lorde reflects on how some women may postpone their happiness by waiting for a future moment where they believe they will find peace. She emphasizes that merely existing is not enough; true living involves engaging with the present, as the stars—which symbolize aspirations or ideals—remain indifferent to one's state of being. The quote invites reflection on the importance of actively living rather than passively waiting for life to change.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about self-acceptance and mindfulness.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
I felt like a kid standing in the world's greatest video arcade without any quarters, unable to do anything but walk around and watch the other kids play.
Not caring for their lives' is it? Why, what in the world is there that we should care for if it's not our lives, the only gift the Lord never offers us a second time.
You don't know what kind of day you will have, until evening.
Being alive is so extraordinary I don’t know why people limit it to riches, pride, security—all of those things life is built on. People miss so much because they want money and comfort and pride, a house and a job to pay for the house. And they have to get a car. You can’t see anything from a car. It’s moving too fast. People take vacations. That’s their reward—the vacation. Why not the life?
There were many moments in the Vine like that one--where you might think today was yesterday, and yesterday was tomorrow, and so on. Because we all believed we were tragic, and we drank. We had that helpless, destined feeling. We would die with handcuffs on. We would be put a stop to, and it wouldn't be our fault. So we imagined. And yet we were always being found innocent for ridiculous reasons.
I was lucky to come from a difficult area. It teaches you not just about football but also life.
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