My computer time today was involved in responding to a letter the Archbishop wrote to two of us in response to our request for dialog on the Cry of the Poor Petition. The essays Catholic Church in North Central Milwaukee were ignored by many in the Catholic Church but the Cry of the Poor Petition got some response, negative and positive from the Church. I was delighted that the Archbishop did not ignore this Cry for the Poor but after five weeks of our plea for a dialog on our request he responded.
He did not respond to our request for the dialog but did respond to the message of our cry. I was grateful for his response to our message and spend my computer time writing a response. But since the physical copy of the letter was not yet sent I do not want to comment publicly about is content. But I deeply respect the Archbishop for responding to the message and not ignoring it or attacking the messenger while ignoring the message. Ignoring a message that is uncomfortable to hear seems to be common today.
Tonight I am offering a number of quotes about ignoring a message, some of these are on a Various quote page on www.nonviolentcow.org and some are new to this web site. Here they are:
“People ignore the message and kill the messenger.” (Unknown)
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
— Elie Wiesel
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.” Sophocles
“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
“Never again will I be silent on an issue that is destroying the soul of our nation…” Martin Luther King
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.” Martin Luther King
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who during time of great moral crisis maintained their neutrality.” — Dante
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