Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
“Vulnerability is not weakness, and the uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional. Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson, p76-77
“One night toward the end of January I settled into bed late, after a strenuous day. Coretta had already fallen asleep and just as I was about to doze off the telephone rang. An angry voice said, ‘Listen, nigger, we’ve taken all we want from you; before next week you’ll be sorry you ever came to Montgomery.’ I hung up, but I couldn’t sleep. It seemed that all of my fears had come down on me at once. I had reached the saturation point. I got out of bed and began to walk the floor. I had heard these things before, but for some reason that night it got to me. I turned over and tried to go to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep. I was frustrated, bewildered, and then I got up. Finally I went to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee. I was ready to give up. With my cup of coffee sitting untouched before me I tried to think of a way to move out of the picture without appearing a coward. I sat there and thought about a beautiful little daughter who had just been born. I’d come in night after night and see that little gentle smile. I started thinking about a dedicated and loyal wife, who was over there asleep. And she could be taken from me, or I could be taken from her. And I got the point that I couldn’t take it any longer. I was weak. Something said to me, ‘You can’t call on Daddy now, you can’t even call on Mama. You’ve got to call on that something in that person that your Daddy used to tell you about, that power that can make a way out of no way.’ With my head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud. The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory: ‘Lord, I’m down here trying to do what’s right. I think I’m right. I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak right now, I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. Now, I’m afraid. And I can’t let the people see me like this because if they see me weak and losing my courage, they will begin to get weak. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’
It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: "Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo, I will be with you. Even until the end of the world....almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything."
J. Patznowski, as quoted in Itturei Torah v. III p.46
The sages say that the redemption will not come until everyone despairs of it. So here: all Israel despaired except Moses. But when even he said to God, "Still you have no delivered Your people" (5:23), God responded: "You shall soon see" (6:1).
Hasidic Anthology p.307
Why had the time come now to free Israel from bondage? Because God felt that they were becoming accustomed to their burdens.
Etz Hayim Torah Commentary on Ex. 6:6-8
The stages of redemption: "I will free you" from physical enslavement in Egypt; I will "deliver you" from the psychological mind-set of being a slave, which might persist even after you have been physically liberated; "I will redeem you" so that you will think of yourselves as free people; and "I will take you" into a special relationship with Me, for that is the ultimate goal of your liberation.
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk,late 18th-early 19th century Hasidic leader
A first step toward liberation will be freeing themselves from their passivity and their tolerance of the intolerable.