SPEAK UP

12 Days of Service - Day 5

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

 

 

 

"He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own."

Confucius (c. 551 - c. 479 BC)

12 Days of Service - Day 4

"The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity."

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

 

 

 

 

 

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

12 Days of Service - Day 3

"Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others."

Barbara Bush (b. 1925)

"Genuine politics -- even politics worthy of the name -- the only politics I am willing to devote myself to -- is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole."

Vaclav Havel (b. 1936) 

12 Days of Service - Day 2

"Never forget that the purpose for which a man lives is the improvement of the man himself, so that he may go out of this world having, in his great sphere or his small one, done some little good for his fellow creatures and labored a little to diminish the sin and sorrow that are in the world."

William Gladstone (1809-1898)

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

12 Days of Service - Day 1

"Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

 

 

 

"There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well."

Walter Reuther (1907-1970)

 

 

 

Burmese Migrants in Need

I spent last Thursday to Sunday with a group of people from Bangkok up in Mae Sot, delivering Christmas gifts and family care packages to hundreds of Burmese migrants who live in the area.  Mae Sot is a classic Thai-Burma border town, with thousands of poor and displaced Burmese migrants/refugees/job seekers pouring into Thailand in search of a better life.  Some were displaced by Typhoon Nargis, some have been in Thailand for nearly 20 years, but for most the story is the same - deep poverty, not a lot of opportunity, and a meager existence on the margins of Thai society.

The entire time there my head was spinning with ideas and vision for what Speak Up could do there to serve such communities.  Land rights will certainly be an issue for many of them, as they are barely-legal land squatters in small bamboo hut communities all around Mae Sot.  I can see one day having a team of lawyers helping these needy folks get their papers in order to become citizens or be legalized in some way; help them legally own or rent property so they won't be at the mercy of expulsion or unfriendly landlords; help them with documentation so they won't be afraid of police raids and incarceration.

I'm the first to admit that I have a lot to learn about the Thai-Burma migrant issues.  I know it's a complex mix of poverty and international politics and ethnic identity issues - and probably more.  Whatever the case, in the middle of this mix are thousands of poverty-stricken migrants, people who need a voice in a system that has them permanently on the fringes of society.  I plan to use Speak Up in some way to provide a voice in the system for these Burmese migrants, among the regions poorest and most vulnerable people.  Stay tuned as this work develops.

Lombardi Speaks

I was about to make an excuse for not putting up my blog quotes for two days, then I read Coach Lombardi's words that make my excuses seem pretty weak.  So, this collection of quotes is to help inspire you and me to excellence in whatever work we do today.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal."

"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."

"The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price."   

 Vince Lombardi (1913-1970)

 

 

Abolition!!

“So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the Trade's wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for Abolition.  Let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.” 

William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

These are Wilberforce's classic words as he dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery.  If you ever want to read a great biography, read anything about Wilberforce.  He was a humble, visionary, unrelenting man.  How I want to be gripped by that kind of fire and conviction, the stuff that gives a man towering moral authority. 

What do you Believe?

“I know this now. Every man gives his life to what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and so they give their lives to little or nothing.” 

Joan of Arc (1412-1431)

A lot of people talk about what they believe in - justice, equality, morality, freedom, whatever.  But the measure of what you really believe in, as so perfectly put by Joan of Arc (who is simply one of the most remarkable figures in all of history), is what you give your life to. 

Using that standard, I wonder what most people really believe in.  If anything at all.  Do you really believe that truth demands justice for all?  Or does your life in reality show that you believe in your personal comfort?  Do you really believe in the uplift of the poor?  Or is that just a warm feeling you get from documentaries and stories of other brave people?

What a great way to evaluate your life - what are you really giving your life to, what can it be truthfully said are you sacrificing or spending yourself on?  It's a great question for me, to keep me focused on what I say I believe.  Some days I want to serve the poor.  Some days I just want to watch football and eat burgers.  But as much as I miss Saturday afternoons watching college football, and an In-n-Out drive thru, I think I'd rather give my life to something bigger.  But my other desires and wants so easily get in the way!  Can anyone relate?

The Testing Point

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

A Mother's Wisdom

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” 

King Lemuel's Mother, Proverbs 31:8-9

These are the words that led me to law school and to start Speak Up.  They struck a deep chord in me, the part of me that wanted to defend and speak up for the needy, to use my power and speaking and all of my skills to build something profound to serve the practical advocacy needs of people without a voice.  I can't find any representation of what King Lemuel's mother may have looked like - I don't even know her name.  But her wisdom as recorded in the Proverbs changed my life.