Jaclyn

“If you have debts, you are poor;
if you have assets, you are fortunate;
if you have money, you are privileged;
if you have peace, you are rich;
and if you have contentment, you are wealthy.

If you have greed, you are poor;
if you have faith, you are fortunate;
if you have joy, you are privileged;
if you have charity, you are rich;
and if you have love, you are wealthy.

If you have ignorance, you are poor;
if you have education, you are fortunate;
if you have understanding, you are privileged;
if you have knowledge, you are rich;
and if you have wisdom, you are wealthy.

If you have no one, you are poor;
if you have an acquaintance, you are fortunate;
if you have a friend, you are privileged;
if you have a lover, you are rich;
and if you have a soulmate, you are wealthy.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

“Sometimes there is such beauty in awkwardness.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“Sometimes I get the feeling [my parents have] asked me to hold this big invisible secret for them, like a backpack full of rocks--all these things they don't want to know about themselves. I'm supposed to wear it as I hike up this trail toward my adulthood. They're already at the summit of Full Grown Mountain. They're waiting for me to get there and cheering me on, telling me I can do it, and sometimes scolding and asking why I'm not hiking any faster or why I'm not having more fun along the way. I know I'm not supposed to talk about this backpack full of their crazy, but sometimes I really wish we could all stop for a second. Maybe they could walk down the trail from the top and meet me. We could unzip that backpack, pull out all of those rocks, and leave the ones we no longer need by the side of the trail. It'd make the walk a lot easier. Maybe then my shoulders wouldn't get so tense when Dad lectures me about money or Mom starts a new diet she saw on the cover of a magazine at the grocery store.”
― Aaron Hartzler, What We Saw

“How we speak to a waiter, treat a beggar, spend a dollar—with every action we take, we are creating the world we live in. We get to decide whether our contribution to this story is patience or exasperation, compassion or condemnation, awareness or foolishness, liberation or enslavement. We can’t go back and erase the parts we’re not proud of, but we can move forward different and better.”
― Jamie Wright, The Very Worst Missionary: A Memoir or Whatever