You can't reason with gang violence: you can't talk to it, sit it at the table, and negotiate with it. Greg Boyle More Quotes by Greg Boyle More Quotes From Greg Boyle Close both eyes see with the other one. Then we are no longer saddled by the burden of our persistent judgments our ceaseless withholding our constant exclusion. Our sphere has widened and we find ourselves quite unexpectedly in a new expansive location in a place of endless acceptance and infinite love. Greg Boyle unconditional-love eye acceptance If there is a fundamental challenge within these stories, it is simply to change our lurking suspicion that some lives matter less than other lives. Greg Boyle compassion challenges stories I want to be prophetic and take stands and stand with those on the margins, and I want to laugh as much as I can. Greg Boyle prophetic want laughing Even gang members imagine a future that doesnt include gangs. Greg Boyle gang-members gang imagine God can get tiny, if we're not careful. Greg Boyle careful tiny ifs Our best selves tell us that 'there but for the grace of God... ' and that, in the end, there is no distance, really, between us and them. It is just us. Our best and noble hope is to imitate the God we believe in. The God who has abundant room in God's grief and heart for us all. Greg Boyle best hope god heart Don't forget, you are the hero of your own story. Greg Boyle story you hero forget You prevent kids from joining gangs by offering after-school programs, sports, mentoring, and positive engagement with adults. You intervene with gang members by offering alternatives and employment to help redirect their lives. You deal with areas of high gang crime activity with real community policing. We know what works. Greg Boyle you community positive sports My job isn't to fix or rescue or to save. It's to accompany, see people, listen to them. Greg Boyle listen job see people You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear. Greg Boyle you language behavior success What do we know to be true about gang violence? We know we will fail if we fixate on the symptoms and not address what undergirds it. Greg Boyle true know gang violence Abject poverty, political instability, torture, and other abuses push thousands across our border. There is not a deterrent imaginable that equals the conditions that force their migration. Greg Boyle push migration poverty political The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives. Greg Boyle wrong just matter world In my barrio, jobs work and money saves lives. When I have had the funds to place a gang member on a job site and pay his salary, I've seen him stop banging. When, on the rarest of occasions, an employer has offered a job to one of these youth, I've witnessed kids suddenly have a reason to get up in the morning. Greg Boyle youth money work morning Kids are different from adults. They are not as developed as far as brain science, controlling impulses, and maturity, and fall prey to all kinds of pressures. Greg Boyle maturity brain science fall Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away. Greg Boyle stop stand day people People have to see that there is a high degree of complexity about belonging to a gang. It's a symptom, not a problem. Greg Boyle see gang problem people Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society. Greg Boyle measure possible redemption society I always have a funny story at communion time that underscores that no one is perfect, and that communion is not for perfect people but for hungry people. Greg Boyle story time funny people You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you. Greg Boyle he you god mind
