I have come to realize the extraordinary capacity for evil that all of us have because we have now heard the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and there have been revelations of horrendous atrocities that people have committed. Any and every one of us could have perpetrated those atrocities. The people who were perpetrators of the most gruesome things didn’t have horns, didn’t have tails. They were ordinary human beings like you and me. That’s the one thing. Devastating! But the other, more exhilarating than anything that I have ever experienced — and something I hadn’t expected — to discover that we have an extraordinary capacity for good. People who suffered untold misery, people who should have been riddled with bitterness, resentment and anger come to the Commission and exhibit an extraordinary magnanimity and nobility of spirit in their willingness to forgive, and to say, “Hah! Human beings actually are fundamentally good.” Human beings are fundamentally good. The aberration, in fact, is the evil one, for God created us ultimately for God, for goodness, for laughter, for joy, for compassion, for caring.
Originally asked
Krista Tippett, to her guests, On Being
Krista Tippett uses this as a recurring, sometimes-closing On Being question; the wording is intentionally adapted to each guest.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Krista Tippett, On Being with Krista Tippett, The On Being Project, 2020 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 31 →There were so many needs for us to continue to work for freedom, because I didn’t think that we should have to be treated in the way we were, just for the sake of white supremacy, because it was designed to make them feel superior, and us feel inferior. That was the whole plan of racially enforced segregation.
Well, I won't say what I thought about them, particularly related to Bill Gates, but I would say it's astounding to me how human people are. I mean, it, here you had a guy that was a convicted guy, a sensational con man, and the percentage of people that he knocked off. I mean, whether it was, he found their weakness, it might have been sex. It might be power, it might be, whatever it might be.
I could be strong and not tough. I could be kind without being soft. ... But in that moment, that olive branch of kindness was actually one that became a physical hug, and I think it taught me and the room a lot. And I said: You know what? I think this is an advantage.
More from Jacqueline Novogratz
View profile →I think I did always want to change the world from the time I was six. And I guess that was part of both the positive and the pressure.
I don’t. Need a better system. Feel too owned by it right now.
Email. Or call a good friend. Reading this reminds me that I should instead read poetry. Or write.
Eleanor Roosevelt. She represents a woman of great privilege, who never shied away from that privilege. She used her privilege to help the most vulnerable, the voices unheard.
I am lucky not to have felt burned out. That probably goes back to what energizes me. I get great energy from connecting with people we are serving especially. And if the work feels too hard, there is nothing like a long run to revive my spirit…
That human beings are selfish. I don’t believe it. We have angels and monsters inside each of us. What we need to do better as a society is create systems and opportunities to bring out our most generous.
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