The beauty of the people

From a May 1996 interview with Kwame Ture (born Stokely Carmichael) about his work as an organizer in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States

Interviewer:  I was just thinking how happy you seem.  Not that I would expect you to be unhappy, but you seem to be someone who takes great joy in your work.

Ture:  Well my work is very rewarding, you know.  The reward is in the doing.  Yes.  And I'm very fortunate.  Not many people get to like their work.  Especially with my people, nobody likes picking cotton.  [Laughs.]  I tried it once and I said, “No, I think I'll stick to revolutionary organizing.” 

Interviewer:  [Quoting Frederick Douglass] The reward for being in the struggle is the opportunity to be in the struggle.

Ture:  Yes.  Many don't understand that.  They want these positions that open up, a lot of them are snatching it — “Well, we fought for this!”  Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was for the people.  [Laughs.]  You know the beauty of the people?  You know the beauty of the people?  The people who die in the struggle do not even have the qualifications to accept the positions that open up as a result of the struggle.  And they have so much faith that their death would advance the struggle, that someone who has the qualifications will come and use it to advance it, that when you stay with the people you have to stay pure.  They have so much faith in you, so much confidence in you.  It is so easy to betray them.  They can be so easily betrayed.  So easily betrayed.  

An intention for the week

That it may please thee to inspire us, in our several callings, to do the work which thou givest us to do with singleness of heart as thy servants, and for the common good.

                                   The Great Litany, Book of Common Prayer

Anyone

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  
Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. 
Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.  
And this is all that life really means.

                       Attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson by Senator Sam Ervin

Keeping endless holiday

Doing, a filthy pleasure is, and short;

And done, we straight repent us of the sport:

Let us not then rush blindly on unto it,

Like lustful beasts, that only know to do it:

For lust will languish, and that heat decay.

But thus, thus, keeping endless holiday,

Let us together closely lie and kiss,

There is no labour, nor no shame in this;

This hath pleased, doth please, and long will please; never

Can this decay, but is beginning ever.

                    Gaius Petronius, translated from Latin by Ben Jonson

Anyway

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

                   Kent Keith, The Paradoxical Commandments