Mazel tov

[Sapphire Blue]

The Perils of Indifference
Elie Wiesel

~ excerpt ~

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees -- not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.

Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. And this is one of the most important lessons of this outgoing century's wide-ranging experiments in good and evil.

In the place that I come from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders. During the darkest of times, inside the ghettoes and death camps -- and I'm glad that Mrs. Clinton mentioned that we are now commemorating that event, that period, that we are now in the Days of Remembrance -- but then, we felt abandoned, forgotten. All of us did.

And our only miserable consolation was that we believed that Auschwitz and Treblinka were closely guarded secrets; that the leaders of the free world did not know what was going on behind those black gates and barbed wire; that they had no knowledge of the war against the Jews that Hitler's armies and their accomplices waged as part of the war against the Allies.

If they knew, we thought, surely those leaders would have moved heaven and earth to intervene. They would have spoken out with great outrage and conviction. They would have bombed the railways leading to Birkenau, just the railways, just once.

The full speech (text & audio) is available @ http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/wiesel.htm

A Conversation on Poverty & Segregation
by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber

~ excerpt ~

We’ve got to object; we’ve got to say to our friends all over, “have the courage to do what my other son does.” You heard me tell this, Jack, I’ve got a little baby boy. He’s our inspiration. The reason he’s my inspiration because his motto is “I don’t never give up.” He’s found out that he’s in a house with four other siblings. They’re all older than him. He can’t beat ‘em in strength, so he’s got to beat ‘em in tenacity. So his brothers will pummel him and push him down. He’ll wait until they’re sleep on the couch. He’ll stand up on the edge of the couch real quietly. He’ll raise his elbow in the form of the atomic elbow. He’ll leap off the edge of the couch and as he’s descending from his ascent he’ll holler "I TOLD YOU I DON’T NEVER GIVE UP!"

Well, I stopped by to say somebody oughta take that attitude. Somebody oughta learn from my 4-year-old little boy. And maybe you need to fix it up and make it sound right according to the English language, instead of saying “I don’t never give up” maybe you need to say “I will never give up.” But however you do it, lawyers, keep writing your briefs. Sociologists, keep presenting your data. Politicians, keep leading with conscience and not just convenience. Protesters, keep sounding the alarm. Marchers, keep marching. Prophets and preachers, keep declaring the truth, even if, like Martin, they don’t listen to you at first. Everyday people, keep standing up. Those that know the truth, keep telling it. Those on the inside, keep pushing. Those on the outside, keep raising an objection.

But for God’s sake, don’t ever give up, because some child is depending on you, some family is hoping for a better day, some worker needs a breakthrough, the voiceless still need a voice, the poor still need an advocate, those in the margin still need to be mentioned, people who are down still need to be lifted, the hurt still need to be healed.

USE YOUR LIFE IN THE COURT OF HUMANITY TO SAY "I WILL OBJECT UNTIL JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE WATERS & RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE A MIGHTY STREAM!"

http://www.law.unc.edu/centers/details.aspx?ID=430&Q=3

SOCIAL JUSTICE vs. CHARITY
THROUGH OUR FINGERS
Ronald Stanley, O.P.

"Two men were fishing in a river. Late in the afternoon they started cooking some of the fish they had caught. Suddenly they heard the cries of a man being swept down the river. Immediately the men jumped into the river, swam out to the man, and were gradually able to pull him ashore. As they were on shore catching their breath, they heard the cries of a woman being swept down the river. They jumped back into the water, made their way out to the woman, and slowly brought her to shore. They were exhausted but happy to have saved both people. Then they heard to cries of a child being swept downstream. One of the men started back into the water to get the child; the other held back. "Aren't you going to save the child?" asked the first. "You go get the child," responded the second, "I'm going to go upstream to find out why so many people are falling into the river."

Charity is happy to spend all day pulling victims out of the river. Social justice asks: why are so many people falling into the river? Is there a pathway or a bridge in need of repair? Is there someone throwing people into the river? When there is a pattern of people repeatedly falling victim, social justice seeks to discover and remedy the root causes of the problem.

Charity does the important work of meeting the immediate needs of suffering people, for food, clothing, housing, medicine, etc. Most everyone today approves and praises charity.

Social justice, on the other hand, dares to ask troubling questions: if the earth's resources are meant to meet the needs of all the earth's children, why are 20% of the world's population consuming over 80% of the earth's resources, leaving 80% of the world living in misery? Isn't it only just that the privilege few live more simply, so that the masses might simply live?

(snip)

Our politicians smooth the pathways and bridges of the privileged, to the neglect of the poor. Little wonder then that so many of the poor keep falling into the river. Their falling is not simply an accident. They are not "falling through the cracks." They are falling through our fingers.

Continued @ http://www.ramapo.edu/studentlife/ministry/catholic_Ministry/Articles/social_justice.htm

Love Is the Measure
By Dorothy Day

We confess to being fools and wish that we were more so. In the face of the approaching atom bomb test (and discussion of widespread radioactivity is giving people more and more of an excuse to get away from the philosophy of personalism and the doctrine of free will); in the face of an approaching maritime strike; in the face of bread shortages and housing shortages; in the face of the passing of the draft extension, teenagers included, we face the situation that there is nothing we can do for people except to love them. If the maritime strike goes on there will be no shipping of food or medicine or clothes to Europe or the Far East, so there is nothing to do again but to love. We continue in our 14th year of feeding our brothers and sisters, clothing them and sheltering them, and the more we do it, the more we realize that the most important thing is to love. There are several families with us, destitute families, destitute to an unbelievable extent, and there, too, is nothing to do but to love. What I mean is that there is no chance of rehabilitation, no chance, so far as we see, of changing them; certainly no chance of adjusting them to this abominable world about them, -- and who wants them adjusted, anyway?

What we would like to do is change the world-make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And to a certain extent, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, and the poor, of the destitute-the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words-we can to a certain extent change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever-widening circle will reach around the world.

We repeat, there is nothing that we can do but love, and dear God-please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as our friend.

Continued @ http://www.salsa.net/peace/conv/hs8weekconv3-1.html


(from By Little and By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day, Knopf, New York)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25:

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

~ excerpt ~

Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others. And this is the
way I’ve decided to go the rest of my days. That’s what I’m concerned about. John, if you and Bernard happen to be
around when I come to the latter-days and that moment to cross the Jordan, I want you to tell them that I made a
request: I don’t want a long funeral. In fact, I don’t even need a eulogy more than one or two minutes. I hope that I will
live so well the rest of the days—I don’t know how long I’ll live, and I’m not concerned about that—but I hope I can live so
well that the preacher can get up and say, "He was faithful." That’s all, that’s enough. That’s the sermon I’d like to hear:
"Well done my good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful; you’ve been concerned about others." That’s where I
want to go from this point on the rest of my days. "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant." I want to be a
servant. I want to be a witness for my Lord, to do something for others.

http://www.paxchristimi.org/3D_Life.html

The Drum Major Instinct
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

~ excerpt ~

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important — wonderful. If you want to be recognized — wonderful. If you want to be great — wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

(snip)

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say.

http://www.mlkcelebration.com/speech_drummajorinstinct.php

In One Era & Out The Other
Sam Levenson

~ excerpt from the book ~

Georgia baby,

We leave you a tradition with a future. The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed, and redeemed, and redeemed... Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others. While I was growing up I took as many hands as I gave. I still do.

Your good old days are still ahead of you. May you have many of them.

At our age we doubt that we will make it to your wedding, but if you remember us on that day, we shall surely be there. Mazel tov... mazel tov... mazel tov...

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

- A Franciscan benediction



Transformational Change For America And The World - JOHN EDWARDS 08

"I'm proposing we set a national goal of eliminating poverty in the next 30 years." - JOHN EDWARDS 08