Mimi > Recent Status Updates

“The dangers of fascist politics come from the particular way in which it dehumanizes segments of the population. By excluding these groups, it limits the capacity for empathy among other citizens, leading to the justification of inhumane treatment, from repression of freedom, mass imprisonment, and expulsion to, in extreme cases, mass extermination.”

“Ecclesiastes names you Almighty, the Maccabees name you Creator, Ephesians names you Freedom, Baruch names you Immensity, the Psalms name you Wisdom & Truth, John names you Light, the Book of Kings names you Lord, Exodus names you Providence. Leviticus, Sanctity. Esdras, Justice. Creation names you God. Mankind names you Father. But Solomon names you Mercy, and of all your names this is the most beautiful."

It's been a while since I've read such a powerful book. I truly appreciate Ta-Nehisi Coates' style of writing and the powerful tie his experiences underscore of occupied Palestine and the Jim Crow Era.

"Worldly fear drives us away from the objects of our reverence, but the fear of the Lord pulls us in closer. Our holy fear & reverence of the Lord is entirely different. In his holiness he has flipped the concept of fear and has made it as holy as He is. It ends in our intimacy with Him, and our identity being built and solidified. Where He could continue to separate Himself in fear, He has continued to draw close."

"God brought to mind the disciples who, when they encountered a man blind from birth, asked Jesus what the man did to deserve his condition. Jesus replied, "Neither this man not his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life" (John 9:3). Disease is certainly not a sin. And poverty is not a sin; it is a condition, a circumstance that allows God's work to be displayed."

2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord."

It starts out very dark, but as he encounters Lettie, the story begins to unfold with a sense of both belonging and mystery.

Gladwell expands from Outliers in this book that success through hard-working generations is not linear, in fact, it is an inverted u-curve (parabolic). "People are ruined by challenged economic lives, but they are ruined by wealth as well because they lose their ambition, pride and self-worth.It’s difficult at both ends of the spectrum. There is some place in the middle that works best of all."

Favourite quote, "Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like rain." (pg. 80)