An Imperfect Offering Quotes

“As Albert Camus wrote, the doctor’s role is as a witness – to witness authentically the reality of humanity, and to speak out against the horrors of political inaction... The only crime equaling inhumanity is the crime of indifference, silence, and forgetting.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

“I wanted to be able to live in the world so that I could live with myself. I wanted to do something practical to relieve the suffering of others, while at the same time striving to understand the circumstances of such suffering.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

“I have learned that feat is the mother of fearlessness, and the beginning of possibility." spoken by Paul Hogan and recounted.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

“In this miasma of forgotten wars, torture and the war on terror, there are no easy answers, especially in the face of a very real terrorism. But I can live my questions. As a humanitarian, I can act from a feeling of shared vulnerability with the victims of preventable suffering. I have a responsibility to bear witness publicly to the plight of those I seek to assist and to insist on independent humanitarian action and respect for international humanitarian law. As a citizen, I can assume my responsibility for the public world - the world of politics - not as a spectator, but as a participant who engages and shapes it. The larger force that can push back against the wrong use of power can be the force of a citizen's politics that openly debates the right use of power and the reasoned pursuit of justice. Catherine Lu, a political philosopher and my friend, has described justice as a boundary over which we must not go, a bond of common humanity between us, a balance among people of equal worth and dignity. I fight not for a utopian ideal, but each day I make a choice, against nihilism and towards justice.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

“In our choice to be with those who suffer, compassion leads not simply to pity but to solidarity.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

“The humanitarian act is the most apolitical of all acts, but if its actions and its morality are taken seriously, it has the most profound of political implications.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century

“At best, politics is an imperfect human project. It is at its worst when we delude ourselves into thinking it can be perfect.”
― James Orbinski, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century