a child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth
uh CHYLD hoo iz not em-BRAYST by the VIL-ij wil BERN it DOWN too FEEL its WARMTH
ə tʃaɪld huː ɪz nɒt ɪmˈbreɪst baɪ ðə ˈvɪlɪdʒ wɪl bɜːrn ɪt daʊn tuː fiːl ɪts wɔːrmθListen
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Dictionary meaning
a proverb attributed to various African oral traditions, expressing the social psychology of exclusion and the consequences of failing to integrate the vulnerable into the community; a child deprived of belonging, love, and recognition does not simply disappear — they find other means to force acknowledgement, even if those means are destructive; the proverb functions as both a description and a warning: communities that exclude, marginalise, or neglect their members — especially the young and the powerless — create the conditions of their own destabilisation; it has been widely invoked in discussions of radicalisation, gang recruitment, and the social roots of violence as an argument that inclusion and recognition are not merely moral goods but conditions of collective safety
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