Harvey Milk: Life is Not Worth Living Without Hope

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-22 10:10:00 UTC
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Harvey Milk QuoteAs we mentioned last night, we'll be throwing down a quote a day this week from LGBT rights activist Harvey Milk, in anticipation of this week's release of "Milk," from Director Gus Van Sant and writer Dustin Lance Black.  Today's Milk quote comes from a speech Harvey gave at a dinner the day after he was inaugurated as San Francisco's first openly gay Supervisor.

The American Dream starts with neighborhoods.  If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods.  To sit on the front steps -- whether it's a veranda in a small town or a concrete stoop in a big city -- is infinitely more important than to huddle on the living room lounger and watch a make-believe world in not-quite living color...

Yesterday, my esteemed colleague on the board said we cannot live on hope alone.  I know that...The important thing is not that we can live on hope alone, but that life is not worth living without it.  If the story of Don Quixote means anything, it means that the spirit of life is just as important as its substance.

Hmm...all this hope talk remind you of another politician right now?

And interestingly enough, the "esteemed colleague" that Milk is jabbing in this quote is Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.), who at the time was a Supervisor along with Milk.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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