Everyone loves a great quote. We marvel at those rare souls who can clearly convey an idea and elicit an emotional response from a reader or an audience in a mere sentence or two. The economy of their words provides us a nicely packaged expression that is convenient, versatile and easily stored, perhaps on a slip of paper or perhaps merely tucked away in our memory banks. Because ideas are not expressed in a vacuum, learning something about the person to whom a quote is attributed is essential if we are to fully appreciate its intended meaning. In "The Ten Most Important Things Ever Said", Dan D. Schinzel brings together quotes from a wide variety of sources that span different cultures and times. Each of the ten expressions is followed by a fictional scene and conversation created to elaborate on the intentions of the author. Each quote is also accompanied by two or three relevant stories from the past: some familiar, others obscure. The end product is a book that is intended to be a starting point for a conversation about how the words of the past can serve as beacons for our future. For while the ten different sayings cover an assortment of subjects and are attributed to a variety of sources, they all share one common trait: the words and their meaning are timeless.
The ten Most Important things Ever Said
By Dan D. SchinzelAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2012 Dan D. Schinzel
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4772-2799-2Contents
Prologue....................................................................................................................................................................................................ixChapter One: It is your care for others that is the true measure of your greatness..........................................................................................................................1Chapter Two: A man's true wealth hereafter is the good he does in this world to his fellow man..............................................................................................................15Chapter Three: Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves....................................................................................................................................29Chapter Four: Let he who is without sin cast the first stone................................................................................................................................................49Chapter Five: Sacred cows make the best hamburger...........................................................................................................................................................67Chapter Six: Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion..............................................................................................83Chapter Seven: Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children.........................................................................................99Chapter Eight: In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends....................................................................................................121Chapter Nine: You never really understand a person ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it..................................................................................................133Chapter Ten: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.....................149Notes and Suggested Reading.................................................................................................................................................................................177
Chapter One
It is your care for others that is the true measure of your greatness. Jesus of Nazareth
Act I
Sitting on a hillside near a remote village in first-century Palestine, an itinerant Jewish preacher is surrounded by his followers. He takes a child and places her on his lap. Several of the more prominent men begin to argue about who among them is the greatest.
Dialogue
* Teacher, we cannot decide who will have the highest place of honor in the next world. Surely one of us must rank above the rest. How should we decide who is the greatest among us?
+ Behold this beautiful child who sits here on my lap. Whoever takes care of such a child is caring for me and the One who sent me. It is your care and concern for others that is the true measure of your greatness.
* A child? What does tending to a child have to do with measuring our importance? Surely anyone can watch over a child.
+ This innocent child is the work of the Father. And He has given this gift to you. No one is more vulnerable in this world than such a child. She is dependent on you for nurturing, protection, and guidance. Your unconditional love is the only hope for such a child. Just as you receive unconditional love from me, you must offer it to those who most need it from you. Your place in this world and the next is not dependent on such fleeting qualities as power, money, or even wisdom. No, your greatness lies in the care and compassion you give to those who have nothing to give you in return.
* We all agree that this child deserves the love and compassion you describe. But we also need to be practical. This world is imperfect and we need the leaders among us to assume power, grow wealth, and make decisions. Are you suggesting we can ignore the realities of the world around us and focus only on the needs of those who cannot or will not assume responsibility for themselves?
+ What good is a society that does not care for its most vulnerable members? Such a society glorifies those who gather wealth and power; I glorify those who give them away.
* Teacher, are you saying we must drop everything and abandon our lives and responsibilities in order to achieve the greatness you describe?
+ A life committed to kindness and generosity does not necessitate dropping everything. Look around you. No matter your circumstances, no matter your responsibilities, no matter your lot in life, you are confronted with countess opportunities to show care and concern for others. Extraordinary acts can emerge from the most ordinary of circumstances.
* What you say seems so simple. Yet people suffer for so many reasons: isolation, poverty, hunger, disease, abuse, oppression, to name a few. These problems are too complex for any of us to solve.
+ Why do you insist that a complex problem requires a complex solution? Focus on what you can control and do not worry about that which you cannot. Suffering has been a part of the world from its inception. There will always be poverty and hunger, abuse and oppression. Focus on the one who suffers rather than on the cause of that suffering. No one person can eradicate hunger, yet each of you has the power to offer a starving child a portion of what you have to eat. No one person can end oppression and violence, yet each of you can stand up for a persecuted stranger. No one person can remove loneliness and isolation from this world, yet each of you can take the time to put your arm around an outsider and make her feel welcome and loved. No one person can stop the spread of disease, yet each of you can offer care and comfort to those who are in pain. The love of my Father allows for many paths to salvation. But this I assure you: No one who has ever looked among the poor, sick, the hungry, or the forgotten, has ever failed to find me. And once you have found me, I never let you go.
There Is Room at the Inn
Ordinary men and women, when confronted with circumstances they could never have imagined, often respond in extraordinary ways. History reveals that human beings are capable of carrying out unthinkable atrocities and inflicting indescribable pain and suffering upon one another. But history also tells us that in the presence of such evil a righteous few will emerge, armed with compassion and love, to defend the innocent victims of circumstance. This is the story of one of those righteous few.
In 1994, a 100-day genocide engulfed the African nation of Rwanda. The violence that unfolded was a product of a long history of civil unrest in the country. Ethnic distinctions between the nation's rival Hutu and Tutsi tribes provided the fuel for that unrest. In fact, prior to German and Belgian colonization, Hutus were slaves to the ruling Tutsi class. During the colonial period in the early twentieth century, differences in appearance (Tutsis tend to be tall and thin while Hutus tend to be shorter and stockier) and culture led the Belgian colonists, who took control of Rwanda after Germany...