“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
- Angela Davis, for those who didn’t know the reference
Did she use an AK to effect her change?
At least once, yes.
In 1970, guns belonging to Davis were used in an armed takeover of a courtroom in Marin County, California, in which four people were killed. Prosecuted for three capital felonies—including conspiracy to murder—she was held in jail for over a year before being acquitted of all charges in 1972.
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.
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference