Monday, May 10, 2010

quotes for pondering...

Writing a paper right now on the roles, ethics and impacts of development and humanitarian programming in conflict zones with a case study on Uganda. A recent trip there really challenged me to re-evaluate thoughts on external (Western) intervention... seeing the erosion of local capacities and the power politics first-hand. More on this soon but in the meantime here's a quote I'm using in my paper and that has been central in my thoughts lately:
"How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such a paradox. One must live in the middle of contraditction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light." Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

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