everyday epiphanies @everydayepiphanies - Tumblr Blog

amazing how a simple shift in perception can inspire compassion. we are so much more than we think.

#dna #humanity #perception #compassion #prejudice

I would say that arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying that you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say. Rights exist and have value for more than just the individual in the current moment. Rights are both individual and collective. And when you think about the value of a free press, we’re not all journalists, but we still derive value from them. Moreover, rights are not really intended, rights are not really designed for use by the elites, for people who are leading our debates, because these are the people who are least threatened with the abrogation of their rights. The system exists to serve and protect these people. Rights are almost always needed on a regular, continual basis by those who are vulnerable, by those who are not protected by the system, by those who are not protected by their communities, by the people who are different, by the people who are ahead of everyone else because of a new idea, or people who are simply minorities, who don’t have access to the same resources, don’t have access to the same ability to compete.

Edward Snowden

(via kateoplis)

i've always experienced and tried to express this about vancouver's downtown eastside. while we often think adversity + poverty breeds independence + competition, it more often inspires caring, compassion + community.

i think hardship gives us the opportunity to recognize + empathize with the plights of others, which is why i have witnessed some of the most moving acts of generosity from people who seemingly have nothing to give.

i still have a tiny bottle of caked green nail polish from a sex worker on the downtown eastside. she gave it to me 8 years ago, after i complimented her on her nails. it reminds me never to covet any object more than my humanity.

i love that this is how our police force is spending its resources. inspiration is far more effective than enforcement.

humansofnewyork

“Pleasing people is a huge drive. Any artist who tells you otherwise is either selfish or autistic. Art is a communication, and it’s not incompatible with your integrity to desire an audience. A public performance is a miracle. You never know who’s watching, but you feel a communion between yourself, the audience, and the composer who wrote the notes two hundred years ago. But fuck the notes. The notes are not important. They were the composer’s only means of communicating. The important thing is what’s between the notes and behind the notes. My job as a pianist is to interpret. Why did the composer put that note there? I need to understand the moment preceding the note. And when that happens– when I can reach back two hundred years and connect to a composer’s humanity, even if I’m completely alone, it’s the same feeling of communion as when I perform in front of an audience.”

“if you feel you are in a black hole, don’t give up. there’s a way out.”

but there's a story behind everything. how a picture got on a wall. how a scar got on your face. sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. but behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin.

Mitch Albom, For One More Day