Summer Reflections

What does it mean to be a person of faith? What does it mean to be an activist? I am not 100% sure of either and I doubt that I ever will, but this summer gave me a little bit better understanding of both. Many of my activist tendencies may have been inspired by guilt that I was doing nothing to fix the broken down structure that allows for 80 % of the wealth to be controlled by something like 20% of the population. How could we have existed in a structure like this that allowed for so much wealth discrepancy? Fueled by a sense of anger to fix this, I set out on a journey to do my little part in creating the ideal that I had read in my political theory books.

What I found was something so much more inspiring, so much more beautiful; something that couldn’t be published in a book by a great academic theorist. What I found were people! People struggling without the slightest reason to hold on to any hope, yet everyday they got up that morning and went to fight the fight, to struggle for another days wages, to put food on the table that night, to not get evicted from there house… The whole time being subjected to some of the most atrocious working conditions that one could imagine. When Mother Theresa was asked by sympathetic onlookers about what they could do for the people who had nothing, she always simply responded, come and see. For coming and seeing could transform lives toward love and justice.

Labor in the Pulpits Program

Coming and seeing was my role this year organizing the Labor in the Pulpits program. Although much of my time was spent of the phone making pestering phone calls to Priests, Rabbis, Imams, Reverends and potential speakers to get involved in the program, in the end, I got a good response! About 100 congregations from across faith backgrounds decided to either speak on the issues of low wage worker justice or have speakers on Labor Day weekend come to their congregations and speak about worker justice. I also developed all the resources that would be used for the program that will be used by all of the speakers.

Standing in Solidarity with the workers at Capital Returns

Also would on a weekly basis I would meet up with Helen, Christine, Kimberly, Jeanette, Desiree, and Jason to name a few. They were fed up with what was happening to them at work, they were tired of being treated like slaves making barely enough to live. Not much has changed for the minority worker since the times of slavery and after hearing their stories, I am convinced that slavery still exists. They get paid a meager wage that allows them only to make enough to pay for the most inexpensive of housing, and commodities. Now instead of the owner paying for it, the owner gives them barely a wage and tells them that they can pay for it themselves; emancipation from slavery is what they call it…

(See the campaign leaflet that I wrote included in this letter.)

What I learned is there are faces, people, all individuals, all inspirational, all beautiful being stuck in these situations. They each have a story, they each have a face, they each have things that make them laugh and make them cry. They ARE human despite what sort of machines their jobs want to turn them into. We gave each other hope; we gave each other inspiration that operated in a cyclical fashion. I would walk out of meetings feeling like collectively we had hope as a human community. Listening to Kimberly speak out about the conditions at work, I heard passion; prophetic, pure and unrefined, she spoke with a heart that had forgotten how to hate her people and instead stand together as one. They were not people I just ‘helped,’ they helped me; through them I discovered the magic of living life to the fullest.

On ‘youtube’, I watched a video where I guy was going out asking people in the streets what the meaning of life was. Overwhelmingly, people responded by saying that the goal was to be happy, through this work, no matter how nutty it got sometimes, I cannot remember a time when I was happier and more fulfilled with the beauty of that we are working so hard to achieve through our journey here on earth. Riding home through the degraded and destitute neighborhoods, I saw hope breaking out of every boarded up window, colorful murals painted on the sides of abandoned buildings serving as constant reminders that a new world was possible and despite the gunshots, drugs, and bombed out buildings. The community was alive, still looking for the good in every situation!

I promise you, the good is there! And happiness cannot be found through the endless accumulation of things, but instead through the human relationship, the constant interactions of people with one another. That is the bounty that a life in solidarity with the poor affords. Now I do not wish to paint this view as a completely rose colored vision, there are stresses, fall backs and really tough times, we watched as union busting took its toll on the Capital Returns Workers and folks got scared about showing up to our union meetings, we heard the stories of miscarriages at the workplace, of mothers that wouldn’t be told by the company that their children had had an accident and was on the verge of death in the hospital. I had people of faith tell me that I was all wrong, that helping the poor was not something that the church had any business in. But hope has a way for creeping up like weeds after a thick coat of roundup, reclaiming its position like a plant in the occasional desert rain.

Working on an ecumenical level with people of faith has also been amazing. There have been so many amazing people of faith that I have met through this. People like Pastor Tim, Fr. Mike, Dave, Joan, Mary and Rabbi Yichak have shown me that faith in God means more than attending church or synagogue on a weekly basis, faith is living, faith is breathing and loving without borders. Seeing God work through these people has been one of the most transforming, refreshing and renewing observations that I have seen. The Kingdom of God is a living a breathing one, transforming the lives of people who open their hearts to love. It has been absolutely beautiful to see the solidarity of people of faith who stand up regularly and speak out for what is right as a voice to those who are so often not heard. Getting those people connected to break down all the race and class barriers that have been created out of ignorance and fear has been amazing to participate in and I thank God for allowing me to be a catalyst in being apart of this breaking down of walls.

So where do I go from here? After thinking and praying on it I have decided that this is the work that I would like to continue to do for the next year. The internship will be over tomorrow, but I was able to connect with an organization called the Capuchin Volunteer Corp. The Capuchins have a program where young people of faith come together in a house that has a basis on voluntary simplicity. If it all works out, I will live in community, pray in community and act in community. During the day, the group of volunteers will all work at various places around town working primarily with the poor on all sorts of issues and then in the evenings we will come home to share our experiences with one another. We will try to live our lives simply, in service to others. Through this work I would continue to be a full time volunteer for the Faith Community for Worker Justice organizing people of faith around issues of low wage worker justice and continue to stand in solidarity with the everyday people struggling to make ends meet doing all in my power to see that they have jobs that will support a life of dignity for themselves and their children.

Jesus once said to the rich man, give up your things and follow me. On the surface it seems impossible, however, I find myself trading a life of affluence for a life of love. Trading a life of meaninglessness for a life of meaning! Through this, I feel more connected to God than I think anyone could, this makes me so very happy!

Thank you for your support in fueling this experience, your money went to a just and loving cause I assure you. Through it, about 100 congregations from across faith backgrounds were organized and close to 10,000 people of faith are going to hear about the plight of the low wage worker on Labor Day Sunday and workers at Capital Returns have been given a theological framework to continue to fight for justice.