|
|
Conclusion
When considering community members' empowerment in Brazil, Paulo Freire once wrote "those invaded became convinced of their intrinsic inferiority." The implication that volunteerism is an engine for a degrading, delineating social design is not new, but the challenge that faces us is: to make volunteerism a relevant, purposeful engine for democracy and sustainable communities today, and by doing so, to create a vibrant, purposeful society tomorrow.
In his book, "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community," published a year before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about what he called the world house. "This is the great new problem of mankind," he wrote. "We have inherited a large house, a great 'world house' in which we have to live together -- black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu -- a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace."
"All inhabitants of the globe are now neighbors," King continued, predicting a time in which not only African Americans would be fully free, but peoples suffering discrimination everywhere. "Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever," he wrote. "The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself."
The challenge we face as responsible community workers, educators and other social providers is to build Dr. King's world house, where he proposed a revolution of values. That is why we must aspire to lift volunteerism towards the poignancy which it could have. That is one where the community and the volunteer work with good intention in unity for the common good of all. That is where I want to live.
I do have a song that always beat my heart:
We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel
You are all my brothers
Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares
We could really get there
If you cared enough for the living
Make a little space to make a better place.
Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.
-Micheal Jackson
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
Ejire
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
