César Estrada Chávez is the full name of Cesar Chavez. Chavez is well known as an American who raised issues about labour rights. He holds the distinction of having founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). This particular organization underwent some merging changes and later came to be known as the United Farm Workers (UFW) labour union.
He was born in Yuma, Arizona on March 31, 1927. Chavez was born in a family of mixed cultures, Mexican and American to be particular. He began working as a manual labourer before he spent his two years of life in the United States of America Navy. He further got involved in the Community Service Organization (CSO), through which he helped labourers to get themselves registered for a vote.
It was in the year 1959 that Chavez stepped into the role of CSO's national director. He left this position in 1962. Later, he began organizing strikes among farmworkers. Amidst the famous grape strike, his NFWA merged with AWOC to form the UFW in 1967. Chavez was quite affected by the ideologies and opinions of Mahatma Gandhi. Chavez emphasized non-violent methods of protest like boycotts to get his demands met.
Throughout his lifetime, he became a sensation and global icon for organized labour and leftist groups in the U.S.A. he posthumously became a "folk saint" among Mexican Americans. His birthday is a commemorative holiday in various U.S. states. He also received the posthumous 1994 Presidential Medal of Freedom. During his final years, Chavez was involved in a case that involved high stakes. He died on April 23, 1993. Below are some of the famous Cesar Chavez Quotes.
If you want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart.
Making friends isn't that tough a task. All you have to do is show love to the person. Similarly, if you want to befriend someone, then do things that will make you feel close to them. Go to their home and eat their food with them. Sharing food means that the other person is willing to share their love with you too!
Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.
If you want to preserve your culture, you don't have to hate someone else's culture. We think that to save our own cultural identity, we have to let down others. Yet, you don't have to do that. Rather love every other exotic culture and support it.
You are never strong enough that you don't need help.
Do you also break emotionally? That's something very natural. Most of the time, we feel that we can manage our pressures on our own. Yet, you can ask others for help too. You are never really a "one-man army". Thus, never stay in this delusion that you won't need help.
The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.
The real fight is never about things like grapes or lettuce. It means that fighting is not over "things" or something that may become an essential part of our lives. The real fight is about people. It's about how much control you can exercise over other people. Humans are the real resources and wealth of this nation. Everyone would fight over them.
We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.
We derive strength from our situation that makes us feel broken. We may think that our situation is unfortunate and nasty. Yet your bad situation and despair will help you endure the pain that you have in your heart.
One should have the faith that you would ensure this affliction.
Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be free.
Imitating someone will lead you nowhere especially when you have a genius brain of a child. Students live at that stage of life when they have the maximum capacity to think out-of-the-box. Thus, students should take the initiative and shouldn't copy someone else's work. Innovation is the key to success.
We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community - and this nation.
Maintaining the ethnicity of your community is very important. That's because your community identity is your source of strength and solidarity. Especially for students, they must know well about their cultures and traditions. This entire exercise will make them more sensitive and conscious.
There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence.
Non-violence is the best thing in this world. It's the most peaceful form of protest and dissent. If you are silent about the violence that someone else is perpetrating, you are doing the right thing. There's nothing like being defeated in violence. However, you can answer someone's violence by using non-violent methods like protests, legal action etc.
Continue reading some more Cesar Chavez Quotes..
Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?
Education is not about giving bookish knowledge to your students. Rather education should be aimed at deriving the goodness out of those students who are learning in classrooms.
It's about treating them with humanity and imparting lessons on life, love, emotions etc. Cramming lessons won't do as good as teaching life values to kids.
Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.
The way we use language and the kind of words we use is reflective of our character. If we are using abuses, then it reflects our upbringing and background. Similarly, how we treat others while using language shows the kind of mannerisms and values we uphold. Using good language always helps in building our character.
We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and our own.
Selfishly thinking just about yourself is not a good thing to do. You should be someone who succeeds by holding the hands of others. You should coincide your aspirations with that of your community's. That's because individual success has to give credit to the entire community. No single individual can scale mountains without the moral support of others.
We learned many years ago that the rich may have money, but the poor have time.
Rich people may have a lot of money. They may exercise their entire control over resources. But what they don't have is time. They don't have the time to be happy, stay with their family or enjoy little moments of life. Poor people savour every beautiful moment and cherish it forever.
It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a non-violent struggle for justice.
You find the true meaning of life not by acting in situations of violence. You find life by sacrificing your life for others. This doesn't mean that you have to engage in violence. However, this is to say that you can make small compromises or sacrifices in life to let others enjoy their freedom. You can be courageous and bold without really indulging in violence.
In some cases, non-violence requires more militancy than violence.
Don't they say that you need war to establish peace? It's quite ironic that sometimes we have to resort to violent means to make way for non-violence. Yet that's why they say that you will need more militancy and armed forces to curb violence and reinforce peace in the rare cases.
There is no substitute for hard work, 23 or 24 hours a day. And there is no substitute for patience and acceptance.
We, humans, keep looking for shortcuts all the time. We look for ways through which we can get quick success. However, it can never happen. You have to work hard to achieve little things too. You have to devote your time and efforts to things that are of value. There's no substitute for patience and perseverance.
Few more Cesar Chavez Quotes...
To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us to be men!
We, as humankind, have failed to uphold the values of humanity. We always think about our gains and profits, which severely reduces the emotion of doing something for others in us. To be a real human, you have to suffer for others. That's why we will have to collectively pray to God to make us more men, as we severely lack that quality of suffering.
From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength.
You may not like someone at a certain point. However, if you are in dire need of help, you may be willing to help them or talk to them. Need and despair can make you vulnerable to talk to people. In that situation, you may even work together with people, organize yourself into groups and fill yourself with a lot of dignity.
Farmworkers are society's canaries. Farmworkers - and their children - demonstrate the effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone else.
Farmworkers are very important for the sustenance of human life. They are crucial because they grow grains and food that we eat to work. Our entire capacity to do our jobs well is dependant on them. They are the ones who know about the side effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone. Thus, Cesar is saying that the working class is very crucial.
The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, some will see violence as the shortcut to change.
The burden of joblessness and otherwise lies in the hands of generations at present. The burden lies in the fields of America where people are working hard. If the present generation won't change, then the next few generations would get into the same oppressive work and find violence as the last resort to earn or make money.
Since the Church is to be a servant to the poor, it is our fault if that wealth is not channelled to help the poor in our world.
The collection of funds to help the people around us is the best thing we can do. However, if those funds are not reaching the people, then the entire noble cause is getting defeated. It's our fault if what we promised to people is not being received by the public.
