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MCC Daily Tribune

Quotes That Inspire

When working with Health Services and Public Safety colleagues this week to provide COVID-19 pooled testing for our residential students, I came upon the following quote from Alexander Hall Resident Director Matt Briars (MCC Association):

"The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." -- James Baldwin (1924 - 1987), American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.

With the issues we are facing in our country and around the world, James Baldwin's thoughts become all the more relevant.

Matt and I share an appreciation of Baldwin's thinking. While his words were spoken decades ago, they resonate both because of the pandemic and the systemic racism it has laid bare, yet again. I also think about how much current college students and college employees have been impacted by this new normal.

Being reminded that one need not accept the world as we find it, nor leave it the same, provides a form of permission that is rightfully heard differently by each of us. But, in the final analysis, Baldwin wants it to be heard. We owe it to ourselves and one another to make our corner of the world a better place for having been here.

Enjoy your weekend - you've earned it, my friends.

Is there is a quote that inspires you as an educator making a difference in our world? If so, please submit it along with a brief narrative about why the quote resonates for you to PresOffice@monroecc.edu. "Quotes That Inspire" are shared with colleagues on Fridays in the MCC Daily Tribune.

Katherine Douglas
Office of the President
10/23/2020