this post was submitted on 29 Feb 2024
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"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept."
I love Angela Davis. I really need to learn more about her. I saw this video posted somewhere during 2020, and for folks who can resist the urge to impatiently skip past what she's setting up in the beginning, the payoff at the end of her response to the banal question of whether she supports violence for her cause is (IMO) exceptionally powerful.
https://youtu.be/2HnDONDvJVE
Thank you for the reco. I will check this out and keep your comment in mind.
It's actually kinda short, but the first time I watched it I think I didn't expect what she describes at the beginning to play so directly into her final words, nor to be so very personal at one tragic point. I think I was kinda going "OK I know awful things were happening back then" I'm embarrassed to say. Once realizing that she was putting all that together for a specific purpose, I had to go back and watch it word for word - so I could have been projecting my own general impatience with video clips onto others. :)
isn't this more broadly a reference to the Serenity Prayer than any one person?
It's her reversal of the Serenity Prayer, changing it into a call to action instead of acceptance of the (seemingly) inevitable.
I wouldn't describe it as a reversal, the actual serenity prayer as stated already has the "courage to change the things I can," so anything that is within the speaker's ability to change should already be covered. And the last part, the wisdom to know the difference, already asks to have the ability to discern the two categories, and seeks to avoid accepting the things that can be changed.
It's clever, but doesn't actually say anything the serenity prayer itself doesn't already say.
I dont think she understands the Serenity Prayer then.
So what is that supposed to mean?
Changing everything you can't change?
What does "not accepting those things you cannot change", means? It feels somehow like very self centered gibberish.
Please enlighten me.
You're being downvoted because people people think you're being obtuse, but, as a person that overuses logical thinking to a diagnosable degree, my suspicion is that you're doing that. Also because your tone is kind of...not good.
The whole point of the Serenity Prayer ("accept the things I cannot change") is that it includes "change the things I can" -- so the things Davis is changing are things she CAN change, by definition.
But her point is that she is reframing what she believes she can and cannot change. Recategorizing, if you will.
She's invoking the third part of the Serenity Prayer: the wisdom to know the difference. As we grow and learn, our wisdom increases, so the things that belong in the first two categories will shift.
Things that used to be things that can't be changed are becoming things that she can.
To understand the quote, you just have to give it some space to breathe, and not be so logical about it.
Correct analysis 😁 too much logic made it non understandable (I'm not familiar with the prayer so that didn't help either).
Thanks for the rundown!
Yeah, the Serenity Prayer context might help.
There is a common prayer called the serenity prayer that includes a line about accepting the things you cannot change. The idea being it's not worth stressing out over aspects of your life that you have no control over and to instead focus on what you can do something about.
She is playing off that by saying she's no longer going to accept those things and is now going to fight to change them. I'm not familiar with her but presumably this would be regarding fighting injustices in the world.
Here is the full prayer (or at least the version I'm most familiar with):
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Angela+Davis+I+am+no+longer+accepting+the+things+I+cannot+change+
Oh please. This was witty for about 10 seconds 10 years ago.
It's about as clever as answering every comment with "you could find the answer for this on Google".
Make better decisions.
Did she use an AK to effect her change?
At least once, yes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis
Yikes