We even make ourselves up, fusing what we are with what we wish into what we must become. I'm not sure why it must be so, but it is.
Robert FulghumIt is the chair in honor of all those who, however competently, embrace the impossible. Sit in that chair someday.
Robert FulghumLiberation, I guess, is everybody getting what they think they want, without knowing the whole truth. Or in other words, liberation finally amounts to being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by things we approve of. Here's to the eternal tandem.
Robert FulghumI do not want to know what you will hope for. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle. As the wagon driver said when they came to a long, hard hill: โThem thatโs going on with us, get out and push. Them that ainโt, get out of the wayโ.
Robert FulghumBut it does no good--solves nothing--to distance myself from the front lines of human need by using the mail as a safe shelter. I believe that serving the best ends of humanity means getting out in the middle of it just as it is, not staying home writing checks and thinking hopeful thoughts. The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are. And you're damned right that's idealistic. No apology. When idealism goes into the trash as junk mail, we're finished.
Robert Fulghum