Bryan Stevenson

I think in places where there's poverty and despair and oppression, there are songs still being sung.

And when we get close enough to hear those songs...

Those melodies teach us something about what being human is about.

They teach us something about what justice is about.

And I think we should get proximate, not just to help other people, I think we should get proximate to help ourselves.

Because it's been the greatest gift that someone could give to me, to be in the midst of justice and condemnation, to stand next to the condemned and the hated and disfavored, and to see the power of love create something beautiful, which is what happens

when we are committed to proximity, when we're committed to seeing the humanity and dignity of every human being.

I do believe that when we are proximate to the poor, to the excluded, to the marginalized, we hear things we won't otherwise hear.

We see things that we won't otherwise see.

And I don't think it's just the way we deal with poverty and injustice.

I think in life.

to be a good leader, to be a good parent, to be a good teacher.

We have to be close to the people we are trying to serve.

We have to understand what they're seeing, what they're hearing.

And when we're distant, we can't do that as well.

We judge.

To get proximate, we have to sometimes choose to get closer to people who are struggling, people who have fallen down, uh,

problems in the world that need our attention.

We don't shield ourselves from the world's problems, but we have enough character and enough generosity and enough courage that we will actually go places where people are suffering and struggling and help if we can help.

I think it is our better nature.