Been Quote by Richard Flanagan
“We're a migrant nation made up of people who've been torn out of other worlds, and you'd think we would have some compassion.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Narrow Road to the Deep North, 2013
The nation is built from displaced peoples, yet compassion is lacking despite shared suffering.
In simple terms: Displacement doesn’t guarantee empathy.
Key Takeaway
Cultivate empathy for those with similar hardships.
Themes
migration
national identity
compassion
Mood
thoughtful
critical
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- policy debates
- community building
- refugee support
Key Concepts
social responsibility
humanism
Questions to Reflect On
- How can societies turn shared trauma into collective care?
- What barriers prevent compassion among migrants?
A Different Perspective
Compassion can be overridden by fear or competition.
![“[P]eople think of compassion as, like, kindness. The image comes to mind of some nice New Age guy bending to something with a look on his face like he’s about to cry. And I don’t think that’s it. I think of it more as a quality of openness that comes with being in a state of unusual attentiveness.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/513/george-saunders-317_attentiveness_p-eople-think-of-compassion-as-like-kind_1295518.jpg)
