"Here is another example of violating one's nature in the name of nobility, an example that shows the larger dangers of false love. Years ago, I heard Dorothy Day speak. Founder of the Catholic Worker movement, her long-term commitment to living among the poor on New York's Lower East Side—not just serving them but sharing their condition—had made her one of my heroes. So it came as a great shock. when in the middle of her talk, I heard her start to ruminate about the "ungrateful poor." I did not understand how such a dismissive phrase could come from the lips of a saint—until it hit me with the force of a Zen koan. Dorothy Day was saying, "Do not give to the poor expecting to get their gratitude so that you can feel good about yourself. If you do, your giving will be thin and short-lived, and that is not what the poor need; it will only impoverish them further. Give only if you have something you must give; give only if you are someone for whom giving is its own reward.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Non-fiction authors from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesQuakersSocial activistsTheologians from Chicago
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
pp. 48-49
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Parker_Palmer
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Parker Palmer
25 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Parker Palmer →
Related Quotes
"When the gift I give to the other is integral to my own nature, when it comes from a place of organic reality within …"
"The attempt to live by the reality of our own nature, which means our limits as well as our potentials, is a profound…"
"Reality—including one’s own—is divine, not to be defied but honored."
"… honoring one’s created nature"
"The irony, often tragic, is that by embracing the scarcity assumption, we create the very scarcities we fear. … We cr…"
"The idea of vocation I picked up in those circles created distortion until I grew strong enough to discard it. I mean…"
"As young people, we are surrounded by expectations that may have little to do with who we really are, expectations he…"
"If the engineer does not honor the nature of the steel or the wood or the stone, his or her failure will go well beyo…"
"A scholar is committed to building on knowledge that others have gathered, correcting it, confirming it, enlarging it…"
"Our strongest gifts are usually those we are barely aware of possessing. They are a part of our God-given nature, wit…"