Wisdom from Jean Vanier

This came across my e-mail as my "daily thought"  by the founder of L'Arche, Jean Vanier (these daily e-mails are a service of L'Arche Canada) .   An interesting thought for leaders of communities of all types:

The Gift of the Poor The people with the best sense of what is essential to a community, of what gives and maintains its spirit, are often doing very humble, manual tasks. It is often the poorest person - the one who has a handicap or who is ill or old - who is the most prophetic. People who carry responsibility must be close to them and know what they think, because it is often they who are free enough to see with the greatest clarity the needs, beauty and pain of the community. Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, p. 262