Because it is Simone Weil’s birthday today and events in Egypt are steadily turning from bad to worse, here are some quotes from her to remind us of what we need to remember when it comes to the suffering of others:

The capacity to give one’s attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle.

Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings.

Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention.

(Photo montage via Line Street Productions)