[Dialogue] We are the ones we have been waiting for by Jim Wallis

Wed Jun 16 21:29:23 EDT 2004

This is powerful and beautiful. I urge you to read it.
Roger 

"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the 
beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten 
Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I 
haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes, be 
posted anywhere." 
- Kurt Vonnegut 
Source: AlterNet 

HEARTS & MINDS^top

Building global justice: We are the ones we have been waiting for
by Jim Wallis 

The following is excerpted from the baccalaureate address Jim Wallis 
delivered at Stanford University on June 12. + Read complete text online 
When I was growing up, it was continually repeated in my evangelical 
Christian world that the greatest battle and biggest choice of our time was between 
belief and secularism. But I now believe that the real battle, the big struggle 
of our times, is the fundamental choice between cynicism and hope. The choice 
between cynicism and hope is ultimately a spiritual choice, and one that has 
enormous political consequences. 
More than just a moral issue, hope is a spiritual and even religious choice. 
Hope is not a feeling; it is a decision. And the decision for hope is based 
upon what you believe at the deepest levels - what your most basic convictions 
are about the world and what the future holds - all based upon your faith. You 
choose hope, not as a naive wish, but as a choice, with your eyes wide open to 
the reality of the world - just like the cynics who have not made the 
decision for hope. 
And the realities of our world are these: Almost half the world, close to 
three billion people, live on less than $2 a day, and more than one billion live 
on less than $1 a day. And every day, 30,000 children die due to utterly 
preventable causes such as hunger, disease, and things like the lack of safe 
drinking water - things we could change if we ever decided to. 
For the first time in history we have the information, knowledge, technology, 
and resources to bring the worst of global poverty virtually to an end. What 
we don't have is the moral and political will to do so. And it is becoming 
clear that it will take a new moral energy to create that political will. 
Malcolm Gladwell in his best-selling book, The Tipping Point, talks of how an 
idea, product, or behavior moves from the edges of a society to broad 
acceptance, consumption, or practice. Along the way there is a "tipping point" that 
transforms a minority perception to a majority embrace. Today, a sizable and 
growing number of individuals and institutions have identified the deep chasm of 
global poverty as their central moral concern and have made significant 
commitments to overcome the global apathy that leads to massive suffering and 
death. But we have not yet reached the tipping point - when the world demands 
solutions. I believe the religious communities of the world could provide the 
"tipping point" in the struggle to eliminate the world's most extreme poverty. 
So let's turn to you, the graduates. You are a bright, gifted, and committed 
group of students. There are probably many people who tell you about your 
potential, and they are right. You are people who could make a real contribution 
to a movement for global justice. 
In that regard, I would encourage each of you to think about your vocation 
more than just your career. And there is a difference. From the outside, those 
two tracks may look very much alike, but asking the vocational question rather 
than just considering the career options will take you much deeper. The key is 
to ask why you might take one path instead of another-the real reasons you 
would do something more than just because you can. The key is to ask who you 
really are and want to become. It is to ask what you believe you are supposed to 
do. 
Religious or not, I would invite you to consider your calling, more than just 
the many opportunities presented to graduates of Stanford University. That 
means connecting your best talents and skills to your best and deepest values, 
making sure your mind is in sync with your soul as you plot your next steps. 
Don't just go where you're directed or even invited, but rather where your own 
moral compass leads you. And don't accept others' notions of what is possible 
or realistic. Dare to dream things and don't be afraid to take risks. 
You do have great potential, but that potential will be most fulfilled if you 
follow the leanings of conscience and the language of the heart more than 
just the dictates of the market, whether economic or political. They want smart 
people like you to just manage the systems of the world. But rather than 
managing or merely fitting into systems, ask how you can change them. You're both 
smart and talented enough to do that. That's your greatest potential. Ask where 
your gifts intersect with the groaning needs of the world. 
The antidote to cynicism is not optimism but action. And action is finally 
born out of hope. Try to remember that. 
One of the best street organizers I ever met was Lisa Sullivan - a young 
African-American woman from Washington, D.C., who went to Yale and earned a Ph.D. 
But Lisa felt called back to the streets and the forgotten children of color 
who had won her heart. She was in the process of creating a new network and 
infrastructure of support for the best youth organizing projects up and down the 
East Coast when, at the age of 40, she died suddenly of a rare heart ailment. 
Lisa's legacy is continuing through countless young people she inspired, 
challenged, and mentored. But there is one thing she often said to them and to all 
of us that has stayed with me ever since Lisa died. When people would 
complain, as they often do, that we don't have any leaders today - or ask "where are 
the Martin Luther Kings now?" - Lisa would get angry. And she would declare 
these words: "We are the ones we have been waiting for!" Lisa was a person of 
faith. And hers was a powerful call to leadership and responsibility and a deep 
affirmation of hope. 
Lisa's words are the commission I want to give to you. It's a commission 
learned by every person of faith and conscience who has been used to build 
movements of spiritual and social change. It's a commission that is quite consistent 
with the virtue of humility, because it is not about taking ourselves too 
seriously, but rather taking the commission seriously. It's a commission that can 
only be fulfilled by very human beings, but people who, because of faith and 
hope, believe that the world can be changed. And it is that very belief that 
only changes the world. And if not us, who will believe? If not you, who? After 
all, we are the ones that we have been waiting for. 
Stanford graduates, you are the ones we have been waiting for. 
Thank you and God bless you. 
+ Read coverage of this speech in the Stanford Report 

Roger Alexander
5809 Meadowcrest
Bartlesville, OK 74006
RAlexan934 at aol.com