An inspirational quote from Robert F. Kennedy that seems to fit the current political climate in the U.S. (history is not my forte but RFK seemed to have a keen sense of race relations in the sixties):
“Aeschylus…wrote, ‘Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.’ What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness; but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.”
I was able some years back to see this quote at the tombstone of RFK in Arlington National Cemetery. It was from impromptu remarks he made to African Americans the night that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968, about two months before Kennedy himself was shot dead.
This notion of wisdom emerging from suffering almost “against our will” reminds me for some reason of a saying financial traders used to have about long-term optimism despite short-term volatility and fear: “the market climbs a wall of worry.” Hopefully the current U.S. political climate is such a “wall of worry” that can be surmounted.
One of my bosses in the news business used to call overly optimistic language from public officials “happy horses—t.” Haha. Anyway, the above sentiments are sincere.