The Measure of a Man

I just finished reading The Measure of a Man by SidneyPoitier and want to share a few of my favorite excerpts.

"You can't be passing on to your kids a strong foundation if you don't have one
yourself--because whatever foundation you do or don't have, that's what you're
going to pass on. And when we pass on something that doesn't serve our children,
we have to be responsible for that."

The book talks a lot about how we must constantly define ourselves and that we are responsible for our actions, successes and failures. These next quotes are some examples of Poitier's belief's regarding each person's responsibility for their own life.

"You don't have to become something that you're not to be better than you were."

"I wasn't so afraid as not to question the world's power to determine
what space I would be permitted to occupy. Nor would I allow it to impose a
value of little consequence on my existence, or to reinforce its unyielding
demand that its assessment of my value be my worth in the world at large."

"I came to believe that, while there are in fact some people who haven't yet
been shown, there are far more who are never, ever going to see regardless of what they're shown, and how often."

I love this next quote because it is so true and it really made me think about my need to label or categorize things. Sometimes I cause myself a lot of stress because I am trying to make everything fit into a specific bucket.

"Why do we spend most or all of our lives searching for balance between the
bewildering variety of opposites designed in Nature's nature? Why do we struggle
so hard to find a comfort zone between up and down, in and out, here and there,
this and that, him and her, us and them, high and low? Ever present is this duality, and ever present is our need to articulate ourselves betwixt
the various poles."

These next couple of quotes are in the same vein.

"The definition of self by its opposite: 'I'm not that.'"

"It must represent a basic, basic truth: that collision is essential, that
opposites create an energy, and that maybe nature has no preference for either
of the opposites."

This last quote is near the end of the book and here Poitier is talking to a good friend of his about life in general. I like it because I think it is a good parenting philosophy. The other day I was driving on I-15 with Lara and Daphne and there was a dead cat on the road. I said something to Lara about it and then Daphne asked what it was. I didn't know what to tell her because she is such an animal lover so I just told her she would have to ask her mom. Lara told her the truth and it turned out good because she was able to ask questions and it provided an opportunity for thoughtful discussion.

"...the children; what shall we tell them about our journey? What shall we
tell them about ourselves?"
"The truth." I said without hesitation.
"That life is tough?"
"Life is tough, damn right!"