When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one--it's the first blow in a suicidal movement.    I see the neglect in cities around the country, in poor white children in West Virginia and Virginia and Kentucky--in the big cities, too, for that matter.    I see the neglect of Native American children in the concentration camps called reservations.    The powerful say, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps."    But they don't really believe that those living on denuded reservations, or on strip-mined hills, or in ghettos that are destinations for drugs from Colombia and Iraq, can somehow pull themselves up.    What they're really saying is, "If you can, do, but if you can't, forget it."    It's the most pernicious of all acts of segregation, because it is so subtle. [Maya Angelou] The deeprooted tree pushes upward and progresses as do we, when we bend 'round obstacles rather than confronting them, pushing upward steadily but gently as the wind penetrates gently breezing throughout the earth.  There is nothing to be feared when we are silently focused and cultivating an inner independence, such as a tree trusting nature and its cosmic energy. [Swami Arupdas] [Home]   [Poetry]   [Short Stories] [Quotes]   [Philosophy]   [Biographies] [Links]   [Copyright]   [Contact]    [Site Index] <top>