Monday, September 1, 2008

Love this quote . . .

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the deciding element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, a person humanized or dehumanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
-Goethe

This is the message of a powerful book - The Book Thief - a narrative that makes us step back and take a look at ourselves and what we are ultimately capable.

2 comments:

Mark said...

SO TRUE. I think i just found a new favorite quote - thanks!

Julie said...

I should have remebered this quote during my "airport ticket experience" yesterday . . . ARGHHH!