Our calling, as people of Justice... can we do anything less?

[bobbolink]

From Jim Wallis' new book:

In his inaugural speech, Nelson Mandela, the first president of a free south Africa, told his people and the world:

We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.
We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let us know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.
Let freedom reign.

[wellstone dem]

1. Thanks for posting this--

I am going to post it on my desk at work.

[bobbolink]

10. A work desk is a perfect place for this! A great daily reminder.

Fine idea... I hope your co-workers get some inspiration from it.

:hi:

[babylonsister]

2. Thanks, bobbolink. Lovely sentiment; I wish more people felt this way. nt

[bobbolink]

4. he was a great man! We are challenged by him to strive for JUSTICE!

:hi:

[kdmorris]

3. That's beautiful, Bobbolink.

Thanks for posting it. Oh... and K/R

[bobbolink]

23. So good to see you again! Beautiful words, indeed!

Now, we MUST translate those words into ACTION.

I've wondered how you are doing.... stay visible, eh?

:hi:

[kdmorris]

24. I will!

I've been doing OK. I've been really busy lately with the new job, trying to learn all there is to learn and such.

Knowing that Sapphire was gone for good...was kind of a kick in the ass.

I'll be around!

[pamela]

5. K & R

Thanks for posting this. How is Jim's new book? I haven't read it yet.

[bobbolink]

8. I just finished it, and there are some inspiring parts that really rang my chimes.

Here are a couple of samples to whet your appetite:

p.119 Neither the political conservatives nor the liberals much engaged with actual poor people. Most conservatives did not know any poor people or families to test their assumptions about poverty and, if they ever did come into real contact, those assumptions often changed. Many liberals had little more relationship to poor people than conservatives, and generally regarded "the poor" as objects more than as subjects in social problem solving. Doing things for rather than with poor people became the liberal strategy.

There are some things that I've been saying for a long time, so it's a vindication for me to see them in his book!:

p. 125 The time has come to call poverty what it is. Just as our religious forebears in the Second Great Awakening declared that slavery was morally intolerable, we must now insist that widespread poverty in the midst of plenty is a moral wrong and a religious offense that we refuse to accept any longer. Poverty is the new slavery--imprisoning bodies, minds, and hearts. It is time to lift up practical policies and practices that help the poor escape their poverty and clearly challenge the increasing wealth gap between rich and poor.


p. 286 First, what is acceptable? There are always great inhumanities we inflict upon one another in this world, great injustices that cry out to God for redress, and great gaps in our moral recognition of them. When the really big offenses are finally corrected, finally changed, it is usually because something has happened to change our perception of the moral issues at stake.

That something is this: the moral contradiction we have long lived with is no longer acceptable to us. What we had accepted, or ignored, or denied, finally gets our attention, and we decide that we just cannot and will not live with it any longer. But until that happens, the injustice and misery continue.

That's the way it usually is. We have "easy" explanations for why poverty or some other calamity exists, for why it can't be changed--all of which make us feel better about ourselves--or we are just more concerned with lots of other things. We really don't have to care. So we tolerate the injustice and just keep looking the other way.

And, one that fits for me:

Facing or living with the realities of injustice and oppression can be overwhelming, even crushing to the human spirit.

If a large portion of DU would take just this much seriously, there would be BIG changes!

[pamela]

11. Good stuff!

I think I'm going to buy this book for my Dad for Father's Day. He reads a lot of religious books and I've been trying to get him into Jim Wallis.

This is way off topic but let me tell you a cool story about my Dad. He used to work in Baltimore City and I would sometimes go to meet him for lunch at a diner near where he worked. One Friday we were eating there and my Dad asked for his check and then said kind of quietly to the owner "I'll settle up with you on my other tab, too." Dad went to the bathroom and the owner brought two checks over. I asked him what that was all about because it kind of worried me that my Dad would be running a tab. I was afraid he was having money problems or something that I didn't know about. The owner told me that there was a homeless man that was in that area a lot and that my Dad frequently came in with him for lunch. But the kicker was that the tab was for the homeless man. My Dad had told the owner to serve the man a hot breakfast every morning and that he would pay for it. The guy said he had been doing that for over a year.

It chokes me up just thinking about it. My dad is the sweetest man.

[wellstone dem]

14. Great idea, my father's day shopping is now done! Thanks.

[bobbolink]

20. Hmmm, I just sold two books.

Maybe that's my calling....?

:rofl:

[caseycoon]

6. K&R Excellent post! Thanks

Yes, we must all come together. We must all help one another. We must all grow & learn to understand each other.

[bobbolink]

22. Thanks. There are a few stalwart supporters of this, but very few.

For the rrest, it seems not to matter much.

im tired.

[G_j]

7. the only way we will make it

if we ever do, will be by setting our sights as high.
Humankind could make it work, because it is in the realm of possibilities.
It's just that enough of 'us' have chosen NOT to make it work for the whole, that our
possibilities become gravely diminished.

If we supported each other as friend, family,
we could do it. It's already past late.
Greed-Free Will, a deadly combination,
those of us who don't seek power and wealth,
find ourselves at the mercy of those who do.

But we don't even take care of ourselves, never mind
others.

Just to get involved, to do something, Striving to change the world.
often it' the little things that add up,
But by aiming for the highest, nobelist goals,
Generations will be the better for it.
Every action counts.

[bobbolink]

9. "Every action counts." YES!! That's what Sapphire Blue asked of us....

It's what Nelson Mandella asks of us.

Are we ready?

Thank you, G_j!

:hug:

[bdamomma]

12. and we should do it for Nelson Mandella after this thuggish

regime of ours put him on "the list" how sick is that.

[question everything]

13. "Justice for all, Peace for all"

K&R

[checks-n-balances]

15. Happy to K&R - can we have another?

Thanks, Bobbie -

Nelson Mandela, Jim Wallis, the late Sapphire Blue & MLK Jr, and Bobbolink, to name a few - those who are/have been both prophetic and active in relieving pain & suffering, and also in working to prevent its perpetuation - those who "give voice to the voiceless"

Those who do what Jesus would do. May those who follow them continue to find the courage and stamina to defeat the "principalities & powers" that crush the human spirit today.

(Edited to add a few DUers)

[bobbolink]

18. You don't know how much your words mean to me.... the PRICE of that voice is steep.

Many years ago, there were some people (mostly nuns!) who used the word "prophet" to describe me. I cringed. I ran. I said, "No, NO, NO!!" "Ain't me, send Aaron!"

I am, indeed a weak vessel for the job, but I've come to realize it IS what I'm called for.

It makes me angry.

It makes me scared.

It makes me isolated.

It makes me very tired.

Thank you for recognizing ALL of that! :loveya:

And thank you for those wonderful quotations in your sig! They bring tears to my eyes.

:yourock: :hug: :yourock:

[calimary]

16. What wonderful poetry!

A poem for a troubled planet. Reminds us of what we are capable of.

[bobbolink]

21. I've been thinking about that.

Sometimes I think the eloquence and the poetry may even be keeping us from taking the action we KNOW we should take.

When it's that pretty, we become tangled in the words, rather than the inspiration to ACT.

[blindpig]

17. Bah, there you go again...

stating the truth.:yourock:

[bobbolink]

19. There's more truth in post #8.

It may get me lynched here.

Even though I didn't say it.

The messenger, and all that.

:(