- Reflections from Great Mentors and Leaders
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it is those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Perhaps, we can bring the day when children will learn from their earliest days that being fully man and fully woman means to give one’s life to the liberation of the brother/sister who suffers. It is up to each one of us. It won’t happen unless we decide to use our lives to show the way.”
- Cesar Chavez
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
- Shirley Chisholm
“Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.”
- Mourning Dove, Salish
“Our sense of the presence of God will be distorted if we fail to see God’s reality in terms of our neighbor’s reality. And our sense of our neighbor’s reality will be disfigured unless seen in terms of God’s reality.”
- Kosuke Koyama
- Reflections from our Latinx Heritage and Leaders
“You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”
- Cesar Chavez
“I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth.”
- Sonia Sotomayor
“It is through art that we will prevail and we will endure. It lives on after us and defines us as people.”
- Rita Moreno
“You are perfectly cast in your life. I can’t imagine anyone but you in the role. Go play.”
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
“I realized very early the power of food to evoke memory, to bring people together, to transport you to other places, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
- Jose Andres
“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”
- Frida Kahlo
- Reflections from Rumi
“Love is the bridge between you and everything.”
“These pains you feel are messengers.”
“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”
“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.”
“Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction.”
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”
“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?”
“Whatever lifts the corners of your mouth, trust that.”
Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.”
- Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (September 30, 1207–December 17, 1273).
He was a 13th-century Persian poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi
theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rumi’s works were written mostly in Persian,
but occasionally he also wrote Turkish, Arabic, and Greek verse.
- “The Best Is Yet to Come”
“Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum,
You came along and everything started to hum.
Still it’s a real good bet, the best is yet to come.
The best is yet to come and babe, won’t it be fine,
You think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine.
Wait till the warm up’s underway,
Wait till our lips have met.
Wait till you see that sunshine day,
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
The best is yet to come and babe, won’t it be fine,
The best is yet to come, come the day you're mine.
Come the day you’re mine,
I’m gonna teach you to fly.
We’ve only tasted the wine,
We’re gonna drain the cup dry.
Wait till your charms are right for these arms to surround,
You think you’ve flown before but you ain’t left the ground.
Wait till you’re locked in my embrace,
Wait till I draw you near.
Wait till you see that sunshine place,
Ain't nothin’ like it here.
The best is yet to come and babe, won’t it be fine,
The best is yet to come, come the day you're mine.
Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum.”
- Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto - August 3, 1926-July 21, 2023).
“The Best Is Yet to Come” was written specifically for Tony by Cy Coleman,
with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. He also sang “I left My Heart in San Francisco,”
music by George Cory, lyrics by Douglass Cross, who were life partners.
Reflections from Baseball Legends:
- “Well, it took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball, and I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.”
- Hank Aaron (Henry Louis Aaron) (February 5, 1934-January 22, 2021).
American professional baseball right fielder played 23
seasons in Major League Baseball from 1954-1976.
- “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
- George Herman “Babe” Ruth (February 6, 1895-August 16, 1948).
American professional baseball player whose career
in Major League Baseball spanned 22 seasons,
from 1914 through 1935.
- “It’s not over until it’s over!”
- Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra (May 12, 1925-September 22, 2015).
American professional baseball catcher who later took on the
roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in
Major League Baseball, all but the
last for the New York Yankees.
- “The Hill We Climb” (excerpt)
“When day comes we ask ourselves,
‘where can we find light in this never-ending shade,’
the loss we carry,
a sea we must wade?
We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn’t always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it,
somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
Amanda S. C. Gorman is an American poet and activist.
Her work focuses on oppression, feminism, race,
marginalization, and African diaspora. Amanda
read her poem at the presidential inauguration
of Joe Biden in January 20, 2021.
The full poem can be seen on our Inspiration 2023 page.
See videos of the event here: The Harard Gazette
Gay Pride Month
- “My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women (and men) while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.”
- Audrey Geraldine Lorde (February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992), from her book
“The Cancer Journals.” She was an American writer, womanist, radical feminist,
professor, philosopher and civil rights activist. She was a self-described
“black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet,” who “dedicated
both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing
injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia.”
- “I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted. I have a lot more to drink. For that reason, the political numbers game will be played. I know the rules of their game now and how to play it.”
- Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930-November 27, 1978),
in his 1973 concession speech.
“I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you have got to give them hope.”
- Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930-November 27, 1978),
in his “You cannot live on hope alone”
speech on LGBT rights in 1978.
“Hope will never be silent.”
- Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930-November 27, 1978)
“How can people change their minds about us if they don’t know who we are?”
- Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930-November 27, 1978).
He was an American politician and the first openly gay
man to be elected to public office in California, as a
member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
- “I hate barriers, and it was a time to bring down barriers.”
“The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to.”
“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”
“We (America) are the richest nation on earth, yet our incarceration, drug addiction, and child poverty rates are among the highest in the industrialized world.”
“If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won’t either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out.”
“We must not assume a door is closed, but must push on it. We must not assume if it was closed yesterday that it’s closed today.”
- Marian Edelman Wright, founder of the Children’s Defense
Fund (CDF), American lawyer and civil rights and children’s
right activist. She married Peter Edelman in 1968. They
were the third interracial couple to marry after the
Lovings decision (1967) struck down the
law against interracial marriage. She was the first
African American female admitted to the
Mississippi State Bar after graduating
from Yale Law School.
- “There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”
“Keep alive the dream; for as long as a man has a dream in his heart, he cannot lose the significance of living.”
- Howard Thurman, from his “Meditations of the Heart”
- “The basic fact is that Christianity as it was born in the mind of this Jewish thinker and teacher appears as a technique of survival for the oppressed. That it became, through the intervening years, a religion of the powerful and the dominant, used sometimes as an instrument of oppression, must not tempt us into believing that it was thus in the mind and life of Jesus. ‘In him was life; and the life was the light of men.’ Wherever his spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.”
- Howard Thurman, from his “Jesus and the Disinherited”
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- “Lift Me Up”
as sung by Rihanna
Lift me up
Hold me down
Keep me close
Safe and sound
Burning in a hopeless dream
Hold me when you go to sleep
Keep me safe
We need light, we need love.
Lift me up
Hold me down
Keep me safe
Safe and sound
Drowning in an endless sea
Take some time and stay with me
Keep me in the strength of your arms
Keep me safe
Safe and sound
(Lift me up) Lift me up in your arms
(Hold me down) I need love, I need love, I need love
(Keep me close) Hold me, hold me
(Safe and sound) Hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
(Lift me up) Hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
(Hold me down) Hold me, hold me
(Keep me safe) We need light, we need love.
- Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Barbadian singer, actress, and
businesswoman. “Lift Me Up” was written and produced
by Ludwig Göransson, with additional writing from
Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Nigerian singer Tems.
- Reflections adapted from the “World Peace Prayer”
and hymn “Lead Us from Death to Life”
Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace; let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.
So many lonely hearts, So many broken lives, longing for love to break into their anguish.
Come, teach us love, come, teach us peace, come and teach us your way of compassion.
Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace; let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.
Let justice ever roll, let mercy fill the earth, let us begin to grow into your people.
We can be love, We can bring peace, We can still be your way of compassion.
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy."
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
from his “Strength to Love,” 1963
“Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that. Yes, love — which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one’s enemies — is the solution to the race problem.”
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
- “Awake from your slumber! Arise from your sleep!
A new day is dawning for all those who do weep.
The people in darkness have seen a great light.
The God of our longing has been with us through the night.
Let us build the City of God
May our tears be turned into dancing
For God our Light and our Love has turned the Night into Day.
We are sons of the morning; we are daughters of the day.
The One who loves you will brighten and show us our way.
A light for all the people to set all people free.”
- adapted from “A New Day”
- “I seek the strength to overcome the tendency to evil in my own heart.
I seek the strength to overcome the evil that is present all about me.
I recognize the evil in much of the organized life around me;
I recognize the evil in the will to power as found in groups, institutions and individuals;
I recognize the terrible havoc of hate and bitterness which make for fear and panic in the common life.
I seek the strength to overcome the evil that is present all about me.
I seek the strength to overcome evil; I must not be overcome by evil.
I seek the purification of my own heart, the purging of my own motives;
I seek the strength to withstand the logic of bitterness, the terrible divisiveness of hate, the demonic triumph of the conquest of others.
What I seek for myself I desire with all my heart for friend and foe alike.
I seek the strength to overcome evil.”
- from Howard Thurman
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