“Americans are remarkably kind and hospitable and open with both guests and strangers; and yet they will make a wide circle around the man dying on the pavement. Fortunes are spent getting cats out of trees and dogs out of sewer pipes; but a girl screaming for help in the street draws only slammed doors, closed windows, and silence….
The paradoxes are everywhere: We shout that we are a nation of laws, not men–and then proceed to break every law we can if we can get away with it. We proudly insist that we base our political positions on the issues–and we will vote against a man because of his religion, his name, or the shape of his nose.“
– John Steinbeck, Paradox and Dream, (1966)
“During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.“
– Howard Thurman (1900-1981)