Paulo Coelho

Stories & Reflections

Character of the week: Martin Luther King Jr.

Author: Paulo Coelho

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another’s flesh.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction….The chain reaction of evil–hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars–must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon.

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PORTUGUES

O que me preocupa ní£o é o grito dos maus maso silíªncio dos bons. O que me assusta ní£o é a violíªncia de poucos, mas a omissí£o de muitos.Temos aprendido a voar como os pássaros, a nadar como os peixes, mas ní£o aprendemos a sensí­vel arte de viver como irmí£os.

Com nossa voz, vamos escrevendo continuamente o livro da vida. A luz veio ao mundo e cada um de nós deve decidir se quer caminhar na luz do altruí­smo construtivo ou nas trevas do egoí­smo. Portanto, a mais urgente pergunta a ser feita nesta vida é: ‘O que fiz hoje pelos outros?’

A covardia coloca a questí£o: ‘É seguro?’
O comodismo coloca a questí£o: ‘É popular?’
A etiqueta coloca a questí£o: ‘é elegante?’
Mas a consciíªncia coloca a questí£o, ‘É correto?’
E chega uma altura em que temos de tomar uma posií§í£o que ní£o é segura, ní£o é elegante, ní£o é popular, mas o temos de fazer porque a nossa consciíªncia nos diz que é essa a atitude correta.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Atlanta, 15 de janeiro de 1929 “” Memphis, 4 de abril de 1968) foi um pastor protestante e ativista polí­tico estadunidense. Membro da Igreja Batista, tornou-se um dos mais importantes lí­deres do activismo pelos direitos civis (para negros e mulheres, principalmente) nos Estados Unidos e no mundo, através de uma campanha de ní£o-violíªncia e de amor para com o próximo.

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FRANçAIS ( merci Marie-Christine)

La malediction de la pauvrete n’a pas de justification a notre epoque. Elle est socialement aussi cruelle et aveugle que la pratique du cannibalisme, lorsque les hommes se mangeaient entre eux parce qu’ils n’avaient encore appris a prendre la nourriture du sol ou de consumer la vie animale abondante autour d’eux. Le temps est venu pour nous de nous civiliser par l’abolition totale, directe et immediate de la pauvrete. L’homme est ne dans la barbarie quand tuer son semblable etait une condition normale d’existence. Il etait dote d’une conscience. Et le jour est maintenant arrive ou la violence envers un autre etre humain doit devenir aussi odieuse que de manger la chair d’un autre.

L’obscurite ne peut sortir en obscurite, seule la lumiere peut le faire. La haine ne peut sortir en haine, seul l’amour peut faire cela. La haine multiplie la haine, la violence multiplie la violence et la tenacite multiplie la tenacite dans une spirale decroissante de destruction. La reaction en chaine du diable , de l’horreur malfaisante engendre l’horreur. Les guerres produisant d’autres guerres doivent etre interrompues ou nous plongerons dans les tenebres, gouffres profonds de l’aneantissement. Comme un cancer non maitrise, la haine ronge la personnalite et sape son harmonie vitale, La haine detruit le sens des valeurs et son objectivite chez l’homme, Elle lui cause de detruire le beau comme etant laid et le laid comme etant beau, et de confondre la verite avec le faux et le faux avec la verite.

Nous devons joindre la force du serpent et la douceur de la colombe, un esprit tenace et un coeur tendre.

Martin Luther King Jn(15.01.1929 – 04.04.1968) etait un pasteur Americain, activiste et un important dirigeant dans le mouvement des droits civils Afro-Americain. Son idee principale a ete d’assurer progres sur les droits civils aux Etats Unis et il est devenu une icone des droits de l’homme.”

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