"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Dehumanizing Each Other by Adam Allred
Dehumanization is the act or process of denying a person's full humanity. It involves stripping individuals or groups of their dignity, empathy, and individuality, often reducing them to subhuman levels (like animals) or objects (like machines). Wikipedia
The Cracked Pot — Author Unknown
There once lived a water carrier. Every morning, as soon as the sun rose, she walked from her home to collect water in two earthen pots that hung from a long pole that she carried across her shoulders. One pot was perfectly formed, the other, although the same shape and size as its counterpart, had a crack in its side. So, whenever they returned to the water carrier’s house it was only ever half full.
“Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye
"Gate A-4" By Naomi Shihab Nye Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.” Well— one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.
"If You Love, Love Openly" — Zen Story
Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.
Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain.
Several monks secretly fell in love with her.
John 3:16 — Aramaic Translation
John 3:16
For Unity so loved Diversity,
all the worlds of form,
that it brought you a child of Unity…
“The Scapegoat” by Greg Oosterhouse
There once was a man who lived an upright life. He loved His fellow man, He was slow to anger. He put Himself last, and never was one to cause strife. His life was lived humbly, He even was born in a manger.
SOURCE: Poem Hunter
Two Monks and Silence — Unknown
Two monks, walked together during a long journey home. After hours of wandering in silence the younger monk finally spoke. “Master”, he said, “I have been practicing silence as you’ve taught me…
The Master Carpet Weaver — inspired by Corrie ten Boom’s poem “Life is but a Weaving”
There was a a master carpet weaver so gifted that people would come from all over the world to buy his hand stitched, stunningly beautiful carpets.
For about a year his six-year-old granddaughter, who often pestered him to let her weave a carpet with him finally proclaimed, “I know how to do this!”
"The River" (excerpt) by Herman Hesse
I am only a ferryman and it is my task to take people across this river. I have taken thousands of people across and to all of them my river has been nothing but a hindrance on their journey. They have travelled for money and business, to weddings and on pilgrimages; the river has been in their way and the ferryman was there to take them quickly across the obstacle.