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Quote by Lailah Gifty Akita

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Lailah Gifty Akita

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“Paul Farmer, the renowned physician who has spent his life trying to cure the world’s sickest and poorest people, once quoted me something that the writer Thomas Merton said: We are bodies of broken bones. I guess I’d always known but never fully considered that being broken is what makes us human. We all have our reasons. Sometimes we’re fractured by the choices we make; sometimes we’re shattered by things we would never have chosen. But our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing. Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion. We have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity.”

“Looking at all his relatives come together in both armies, the son of Kunti broke down with deep compassion and said, 'Krishna, now that I have seen my own people here, coming near and longing to fight, my legs collapse my mouth is parched, my body trembles, and my hair bristles; the Gandiva bow drops from my hand, my skin is burned, and I find no rest; my mind seems to wander; I see perverse omens; and before me I see no good in killing my people in battle, Lovely-Haired Krishna!”

“Even when you find yourself in the best of situations, you never feel it is enough. You always want more. You give little thought to others' wishes and desires, and only want favorable circumstances for yourself. If you do the slightest favor for someone, you feel you have done something quite extraordinary. That you are so preoccupied with your own happiness and welfare, and neglect the welfare and happiness of others, is the reason you are wandering in samsara.”