I do think that something of the effect I have on people is to put everything on an edge where they’re both infatuated with a kind of charmingness happening in the person or in the writing, and also flatly terrified by a revelation or acceptance of revelation that’s almost happening, never quite totally happening.
Acceptance
The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.
If the conditions were right there could be great acceptance. Often it is only when they pose an economic or political threat that it turns really ugly.
Throughout my career as a lawyer, teacher and labor leader, books have remained my constant companion – stuffed into a briefcase, overflowing on my bedside table, stacked on my desk at work. Books have carried me to distant worlds, opened new doors and made me feel empathy, compassion, anger, fear, joy, acceptance – and everything in between.
Acceptance of the power of God in one’s life lays the groundwork for personal commitment to both science and Christianity, which so often have been in conflict.
Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
Even the acceptance of personal responsibility may not overcome the temptation to believe that now is not the time to repent. ‘Now’ can seem so difficult, and ‘later’ appear so much easier. The truth is that today is always a better day to repent than any tomorrow.
There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.
Leadership is particularly necessary to ensure ready acceptance of the unfamiliar and that which is contrary to tradition.
The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.