Here is a selection of ideas that reflect my worldview and inspire me.  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 will 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 and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women 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. –Dr. Kent M. Keith  "So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day." –Barack Obama, 2016 State of the Union Address "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever
has."
–Margaret Meade
"We
live in a world where we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say 'It's not
my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those
who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."
"When we worked here together, we fought, scratched and clawed to make people’s lives a tiny bit better. That’s what public service is about: small, incremental change every day." –Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation
"Leadership
is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that
impact lasts in your absence."
–Frances Frei
 "I was
taught to strive not because there were any guarantees of success but because
the act of striving is in itself the only way to keep faith with life."
“The way to oppress people is to find ways to divide them up.” –Trevor Noah
“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” –Theodore Roosevelt
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." –Lewis Caroll
"We
must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." –Plato
 –Benjamin Franklin
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway." –Eleanor Roosevelt
“Truth is the only safe ground to stand on.” –Elizabeth Cady Stanton
"He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help." –Abraham Lincoln
 –Aristotle
–The Dalai Lama
“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” –Anne
Frank  “It's a
terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this
feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost
no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now.
Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”
–Hugh Laurie
“Are you ready?" Klaus asked finally.
“Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it.” –Pablo Casals
"I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage." –Blaine Faulkner, The X-Files
 How to Build Community Turn off your TV Leave your house Know your neighbors Look up when you are walking Greet people Sit on your stoop Plant flowers Use your library Play together Buy from local merchants Share what you have Help a lost dog Take children to the park Garden together Support neighborhood schools Fix it even if you didn’t break it Have pot lucks Honor elders Pick up litter Read stories aloud Dance in the street Talk to the mail carrier Listen to the birds Put up a swing Help carry something heavy Barter for your goods Start a tradition Ask a question Hire young people to do odd jobs Organize a block party Bake extra and share Ask for help when you need it Open your shades Sing together Share your skills Take back the night Turn up the music Turn down the music Listen before you react to anger Mediate a conflict Seek to understand Learn from new and uncomfortable angles Know that no one is silent though many are not heard Work to change this –Bev Bos, Roseville Community Preschool |