The Resolute Woman

Category: character

  • Are we active or passive?

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in ,

    Does what we do make a difference? In his book Trust, Hernan Diaz writes, “Most of us prefer to believe we are active subjects of our victories, but only passive objects of our defeats. We triumph, but it is not really we who fail. We are ruined by forces beyond our control.”

  • We want to forget

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , ,

    Dallas is erecting a sculpture to honor men and at least one woman lynched in the city between 1853 and 1920. A poem by Tim Seibles is punched into the sculpture’s steel wall. It begins: “These are the things nightmares are made of—ropes, knivers, a torn black face, burning flesh, white mobs, their picnics and…

  • Opal Lee’s new home

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , ,

    Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth, was a young girl when white supremacists burned down her family’s home in Fort Worth. Now, in 2024, 85 years later, Lee, 97, will have a new home on the same piece of land where her family’s home once stood. Texas Capital Bank, Trinity Habitat for Humanity and HistoryMaker…

  • The power of the law

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , ,

    “It may be true that the law cannot make man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important,” said Martin Luther King Jr.

  • Fear and certitude

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , ,

    “Extremism is a powerful alliance of fear and certitude,” writes Jon Meacham. “Complexity and humility are its natural foes. “Faith and life are essentially mysterious, for neither God nor nature is easily explained or understood. Crusades are for the weak, literalism for the insecure.” Jon Meacham writes about religion in his book American Gospel—God, the…

  • Unity and religion

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in ,

    “Can religion be a force of unity, not division, in the nation and in the world?” Jon Meacham asks. “The Founders thought so, and so must we. As a force in the affairs of nations, it must be managed and marshaled for good, for faith will be with us, as the scriptures say, to the…

  • Sound the trumpets

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in ,

    Dr. James Griffin, president of the medical staff at Parkland Hospital, wants us to sound the trumpets and work to end health care disparities. In an article in The Dallas Morning News, Dr. Griffin says that one of his favorite quotes is from Rev. William Augustus Jones Jr. “Where a trumpet is expected, a flute…

  • Happiness

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , ,

    Here’s more advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson. “For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.” I should have remembered that quote earlier today—when I got frustrated and a little angry. –Joy

  • Helping one another

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , , ,

    When do we help someone else? When it’s easy? When it requires some sacrifice on our part? When it would be easier not to help? In Claire Keegan’s book Small Things Like These, the main character is confronted with a difficult decision.  Should he help if helping might carry negative consequences for him and his…

  • Courage

    —

    by

    resolutewoman
    in , , ,

    In her book Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan calls for us to act with courage. “Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the…