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1 " Failing doesn't make us a failure. But not trying to do better, to be better, does make us fools. "
― Wes Moore , The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
2 " ...I found myself surrounded by people--starting with my mom, grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and leading to a string of wonderful role models and mentors--who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself. People who taught me that no accident of birth--not being black or relatively poor, being from Baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless--would ever define or limit me. "
3 " Life's impermanence, I realized, is what makes every single day so precious. It's what shapes our time here. It's what makes it so important than not a single moment be wasted. "
― Wes Moore
4 " The choices we make about the lives we live determine the kinds of legacies we leave. "
5 " Poverty is so concentrated because it is generational and, research shows, created with relentless intention. "
― Wes Moore , Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City
6 " … our fates are profoundly intertwined. We have to take care of one another. "
7 " … the criminal justice system affects more than the men whose lives are irrevcocably changed when they encounter the system. "
8 " The stigma and lifelong negative bias that results from even a fleeting encounter with the criminal justice system is absolutely life changing. "
9 " (his) actions also underscore the limits of symbolic gestures toward social justice that we also often see in the world of philanthropy. We often pay homage to what needs to change and attempt half measures, but we rarely challenge our own complicity in the structural inequities. "
10 " The truth is that our individual efforts are important but insufficient. Our collective action -- the leaders we elect, the institutions administered in the name of the People, the other stanchions at the table --- offers an opportunity for bigger, longer-lasting action. "
11 " Throw the bums out" and "Drain the swamp" are popular political slogans. But it's not enough to move people around in a bureaucracy if you don't change the underlying values and let those values reshape tactics and procedures. "
12 " Our country has a long history, and for much of it the intentional policy of the United States was to create hierarchies of people based on their class, race, and gender. "
13 " Our society's insistence on limiting help to those who "deserve it," as indicated by their status in the labor market, has a profound impact on the capacity of those living in deep poverty to escape ... we also cannot defend the inhumane debate about who are the deserving versus the undeserving poor. "
14 " Some critics will counter that poverty is a choice made by those that are lazy or who lack the desire to change their loves for the better. I agree that poverty is a choice. But that choice is not made by the people who live under its oppressive effects. Rather, the choice is ours. It's the choice of government that represents our priorities and allocates our investments. Its a choice reinforced by the companies we patronize and the organizations we support. "
15 " Fighting for your convictions is important. But finding peace is paramount. "
16 " The expectations that others play on us help us form our expectations of ourselves. "
17 " Wes didn't think Tony was a hypocrite exactly--he knew why his brother felt obliged to warn him off. But it was clear that Tony didn't have any better ideas or he would've made those moves himself. "
18 " When it is time for you to leave this school, leave your job, or even leave this earth, you make sure you have worked hard to make sure it mattered you were even here. "
19 " The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his. "
20 " I sat back, allowing Wes's words to sink in. Then I responded, "I guess it's hard sometimes to distinguish between second chances and last chances. "
