Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety. And at such a moment, unable to see and not daring to imagine what the future will now bring forth, one clings to what one knew, or dreamed that one possessed. Yet, it is only when man is able, without bitterness or self-pity, to surrender a dream he has long cherished or a privilege he has long possessed that he is set free – he has set himself free – for higher dreams, for greater privileges.
From: NOBODY KNOW MY NAME: More Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin (1961)
REFLECTION:
- These times have changed the world as we have known it. The safety we once took for granted is no longer. Are you willing to surrender?
- How can you set yourself free for a ‘higher dream or greater privilege’?