There remains an experience of incomparable value ... to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled -- in short, from the perspective of those who suffer ... to look with new eyes on matters great and small.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer,Letters and Papers from Prison
To see great events of world history from the eyes of the powerless...Dang Dietrich, nicely put. I find this quotation to be very interesting. To look with new eyes on matters great and small...it's interesting how your values shift when you serve the powerless...instead of the powerful. I think its the Latin form of "Compassion" that means to "Suffer with." Notice its 'suffer with' not 'sympathize with.'
Lots of thoughts there...take em or leave em.
2 comments:
The word "sympathize" itself means, from the Greek, to suffer with. Somehow over the years connotation has degraded the word sympathy, but that's what the root of the word is.
Interesting, thanks for the clarification. I like being less ignorant ;0)
The MLK quote, I actually just put up after this last post...I really enjoy it as well.
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