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Once again, the admirable French show their mettle in adversity--they try to walk the talk...
Post-atrocity, viral message from Philippe Meirieu, French researcher, writer and Green politician.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Meirieu
CARE FOR PEOPLE
We know that life is fragile, as are humans beings at
times, and that democracy is under threat from
archaic forces that still inhabit the world.
We know that, given the emptiness of our economic
models, based on compulsive consumption, that the
West is strugglng to offer another ideal than the
imposition of fundamentalism.
We know that everything we hold dear is
mortal and that utter darkness might one day
make us forget the hope of all light...
May that terrible night when we experienced the
terror of the twilight, make us recall our fragility and
our fleetingness.
May that terrible night reinforce our resolve
to care for all life, for all free thought, for every hint
of solidarity, for every imaginable joy.
To care for life and people, with infinite
tenderness and unremitting resolution, is the
covenant of all hope.
May we realize that just one shared smile, one
small gesture of reconciliation, in the face
of all fatalism, can help save us from barbarity...
times, and that democracy is under threat from
archaic forces that still inhabit the world.
We know that, given the emptiness of our economic
models, based on compulsive consumption, that the
West is strugglng to offer another ideal than the
imposition of fundamentalism.
We know that everything we hold dear is
mortal and that utter darkness might one day
make us forget the hope of all light...
May that terrible night when we experienced the
terror of the twilight, make us recall our fragility and
our fleetingness.
May that terrible night reinforce our resolve
to care for all life, for all free thought, for every hint
of solidarity, for every imaginable joy.
To care for life and people, with infinite
tenderness and unremitting resolution, is the
covenant of all hope.
May we realize that just one shared smile, one
small gesture of reconciliation, in the face
of all fatalism, can help save us from barbarity...
~Philippe Meirieu
Thanks be to the Universe for France's cherished tradition of humanist and compassionate intellectualism.
___________________________
For those who read French, here's the original:
Prendre soin de l'humain
Nous savions que la vie était fragile, que l'humain
c'était par moments et que la démocratie était
menacée par les forces archaïques qui habitent
encore le monde.
Nous savions que, face à la vacuité de nos modèles
économiques fondés sur la consommation
compulsive, notre occident peinait à offrir un autre
idéal que l'assujettissement aux intégrismes.
Nous savions que tout ce qui nous tient à coeur est
mortel et que l'obscurité absolue peut, un jour, faire
oublier l'espoir de toute lumière...
Que cette nuit terrible où nous avons éprouvé la
terreur de la pénombre, nous rappelle notre fragilité
et notre finitude.
Qu'elle renforce ainsi notre détermination à prendre
soin de toute vie, de toute pensée libre, de toute
ébauche de solidarité, de toute joie possible.
Prendre soin de la vie et de l'humain, avec une infinie
tendresse et une obstination sans faille, est,
aujourd'hui, la condition de toute espérance.
Sachons qu'un seul sourire échangé, un seul geste
d'apaisement, aussi minime soit-il, peut encore,
contre tous les fatalismes, contribuer à nous sauver
de la barbarie...
Philippe Meirieu
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yes a thousand times yes
Something to remember
along the treasure of the French language to your children. Bonjour Monsieur Hekate !
