“As I conscientize myself, I realize that [my brothers and sisters] who don’t eat, who don’t laugh, who don’t sing, who don’t love, who live oppressed, crushed, and despised, who are less each day are suffering all this because of some reality that is causing it. And at that point I join in the action historically by genuinely loving, by having the courage to commit myself (which is no easy thing!) or I end up with a sense of guilt because I know I am not doing what I know I should… I can’t live my peace without commitment to [others], and my commitment to [others] can’t exist without their liberation, and their liberation can’t exist without final transformation of the structures that are dehumanizing them. There is only one way for me to find peace: to work for it, shoulder to shoulder with my fellow [beings].”
-Paulo Friere, Education for Critical Consciousness
