When we look squarely at injustice and get involved, we actually feel less pain, not more, because we overcome the gnawing guilt and despair that festers under our numbness. We clean the wound - our own and others' - and it can finally heal.
Interpretation
Engaging with injustice reduces personal pain by addressing feelings of guilt and despair.
Desmond Tutu's quote emphasizes the importance of confronting injustice directly rather than remaining passive. By getting involved, individuals not only help to remedy the suffering around them but also alleviate their own feelings of guilt and hopelessness, allowing for emotional healing for both themselves and those affected by the injustice.
In practice
During a speech on social responsibility, I quoted Desmond Tutu to encourage involvement in community issues.
The fossil reserves that have already been discovered exceed what can ever be safely used. Yet companies spend half a trillion dollars each year searching for more fuel. They should redirect this money toward developing clean energy solutions
As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression, and injustice, the world has an even greateer instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love.
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone's back.
Gaza is going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.
There is nothing I can do to undo what I did. I can only say again how sorry I am to those I let down and then strive to go forward with a greater sense of humility and purpose, and with gratitude to those who stood with me during a very difficult chapter in my life.
We are so resilient as a people. I have so much respect for their dignity and courage. I hope the world sees this side of Pakistan, one where professionals want a democracy. The spirit of our intelligentsia cannot be broken.
Nonviolence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used.
To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation.
The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.
I cannot bear to live where there is so much injustice and I cannot do something about it. What kind of a torturous life is that?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.