Writing on "The Common Good Forum" for Sojourners: Faith in Action for Social Justice, blogger and theologian Jim Wallis writes of ten personal decisions that individuals can make to change the world for the common good. Wallis believes, as I do, that each individual is personally responsible for co-creating the world we live in. "Finding the integral relationship between you and your own personal good and the common good is your best contribution to our future," writes Wallis.
In my view, social change, per se, is not necessarily the motivation for doing these things, however. It's our own individual spiritual growth and maturation that are important, since that is why we, as Soul, are here in this physical world.
I'm presenting these ten things, in Wallis' words, with my own commentary.
1. If you are a father or a mother, make your children the most important priority in your life and build your other commitments around them. If you are not a parent, look for children who could benefit from your investments in their lives.
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I definitely think the world would change for the better if more people made children a priority. The title of Hillary Clinton's book, It Takes a Village, published in 1996, springs to mind. The book title is based on an African proverb: "It takes a village to raise a child." Although this is not the dominant mindset of American or European cultures, the vast majority of aboriginal cultures do raise their children this way, and it makes a lot of sense. It's true that parents are mainly responsible, but in this day and age, when so many kids are being raised by only one parent, it would be a good thing if everyone saw it as their responsibility to assist with the raising of children. This isn't about raising taxes to pay for public schools. This is about taking personal responsibility for kids, and as Wallis says, if you don't have any kids (or if yours are all grown up), you should take personal responsibility for someone else's kids in some way. This could be accomplished by assisting in a public or private school classroom, volunteering to monitor kids on field trips, reading to kids at the public library, or assisting with summer activities or after-school activities for kids. It could also be accomplished by volunteering to work with a youth group at your place of worship, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4H, Boys' and Girls' Clubs, or any other group for children or teenagers.
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2. If you are married, be faithful to your spouse. Demonstrate with both your fidelity and your love. If you are single, measure your relationships by their integrity, not their usefulness.
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I would say that measuring relationships by their integrity is important whether you are married or single, and if you are married and integrity is the hallmark of your relationship, the fidelity will take care of itself. (That is, of course, assuming that you have promised to be faithful to your partner, which is a common marriage vow.)
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3. If you are a person of faith, focus not just on what you believe, but on how you act on those beliefs. If you love God, ask God how to love your neighbor.
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The beef I have with this statement, even though it seems inclusively-worded, is that it makes the assumption that people who are atheists have no "beliefs" or moral values. Some people are genuinely surprised to hear that people who don't believe in God do have moral values. They just aren't tied up with ideas about "sin" and "damnation" and so forth. I guess I would just say, "act toward others with integrity according to your ethical values" and leave it at that.
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4. Take the place you live seriously. Make the context of your life and work the parish that you take responsibility for.
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I would say this: Your thoughts, words and deeds have consequences for yourself, for others, and for your immediate environment. Resolve to take responsibility for your thoughts, words and deeds in your home community and your workplace.
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5. Seek to develop a vocation and not just a career. Discern your gifts as a child of God, not just your talents, and listen for your calling rather than just looking for opportunities. Remember that your personal good always relates to the common good.
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Some jobs are just not a "vocation," no matter how you look at it, but I would say the following: Whatever you do for a living, do it to the best of your ability, and resolve to do whatever you can to be of service to others within your career path. Outside of your career, develop your talents in service to others.
I certainly do think each individual good should always relate to the common good, but in reality, that just isn't happening, and a lot of people seem to be able to rationalize doing things to serve themselves that are actually destructive of the environment and harmful to others. Perhaps a better way to say this is that the common good always benefits the personal good, so seek the common good.
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6. Make choices by distinguishing between your wants and needs. Choose what is enough, rather than what is possible to get. Replace appetites with values; teach your children the same, and model those values for all who are in your life.
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The decision here involves a choice to seek "enough" but not "too much." In order to do this, we must give up our attachment to material things, status, and our opinions or the need to control others. A very tall order, indeed, for some people. At the same time, we must give up our fear of not having enough, of not being as good as others, or of somehow being subsumed or controlled by others.
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7. Look at the business, company, or organization where you work from an ethical perspective. Ask what the vocation is, too. Challenge whatever is dishonest or exploitive and help your place of work do well by doing good.
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In other words, decide not to tolerate unethical practices in the workplace, on any level. This may not be as easy as it sounds. You may find that you will have to look for another place to work, or you may find yourself a "whisstleblower" and suffer for it.
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8. Ask yourself what in the world today breaks your heart and offends your sense of justice. Decide to help change that and join with others who are committed to transforming that injustice.
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I would say, choose your fights carefully. Do what you can on a small scale. You can't reform the whole world. Resolve to make your part of it a little better than you found it.
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9. Get to know who your political representatives are at both the local and national level. Study their policy decisions and examine their moral compass and public leadership. Make your public convictions and commitments known to them and choose to hold them accountable.
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There are a lot of people who have pretty well given up on "government" in general. If you are not one of those, then by all means do resolve to be active by casting your vote at election time and contacting your elected representatives to make your views known, especially when the representative is from the "other" party.
Another perspective is that this physical world is full of problems for a reason - we are being given the opportunity to try to solve them, not so we can all live happily ever after, but in order to grow spiritually.
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10. Since the difference between events and movements is sacrifice, which is also the true meaning of religion, and what makes for social change, ask yourself what is important enough to give your life to and for.
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I'm not so sure the "meaning of religion" is sacrifice, but I do feel that it's important to set priorities and to make decisions on the basis of those priorities. It's important also to realize that everyone's priorities are different, so we have to join forces with others whose priorities are similar in order to accomplish change in the world. :-)
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