[rad]ical

Last night I had a really good talk with a friend of mine- as per usual, I was reminded of how grateful I am to have such smart and compassionate women to call friends. My friend is a social work student and we were talking about “the system”- While we were talking about social work in particular, this thought on “the system” can really be used to analyze any system that perpetuates or condones injustice- like the economy or the political system. My friend was talking about how she wrote a paper about how social workers DO perpetuate systems of inequality and dependency. Her argument for why this is was that social workers are lukewarm. I would like to make the claim that MOST of us are lukewarm, thus we all play a role in preserving the status quo. She used the example of radical feminist Simone de Beauvoir to illuminate her point. de Beauvoir makes the argument that all heterosexual sex is in essence rape. This statement seems a little far left on the crazy scale to me- as it did to my friend. But her point was that women studies students will learn de Beauvoir’s argument and then debate it. While de Beauvoir is on the far left of the crazy/too “progressive” continuum, patriarchy and our society in general is probably on the too far right/”back in the stone ages” oppressive. So, these students debate, think, question and wonder- and often end up changed because of a discussion based on such a radical notion. My point here is not to debate the legitimacy of de Beauvoir’s claim, but rather to emphasize that the students were changed by the discussion. My friend argued that social workers are too lukewarm because they themselves are never changed by the discussion- that they are not radical enough, and perhaps not radical at all.
I think Christian thinking comes into play at this point. Some of the most kind, generous, visionary and world-changing people I know are Christians. These people are seen as radicals in our society because they too are willing to be changed by the message. For these people the change comes from believing that Jesus offered us a different way of life- a way to be free from the rat race we live in, a way to cultivate grace and love, the way of community. Here, these Christians are acting like the women studies students that I spoke of above- they are changed by a message, by a belief. So, not only does their thinking change, but their entire life changes…what they value, eat, read, watch, buy, judge, find happiness- all of that changes. Those who are willing to follow the value system of Jesus AND feminists are ALL ABOUT changing the status quo- all about redeeming the mess that we find ourselves in. Feminists may want to change the hypersexualization of women or have more elected women in office where as Christians might want to see less lonely people, fewer hungry people, etc- the key similarity is that what we have now, where we are now, isn’t working- and it’s not enough. You don’t need to look very far to see that millions die from lack of clean water and nutrition and women certainly are not yet equally valued in society.
What is so inspiring about the people that work for these causes, is that they first long to change themselves. To unlearn. To question. To seek justice inside and then outside.
If we want the world to change- if we want the “system” to stop being so screwed up- where children always have enough food and those with disabilities are able to live without the fear of poverty- then we first need to change ourselves.
The question that I have to ask myself is – what am I doing to first change myself, how I live, what I value.
Changing “the system” will never happen if we continue to believe that it is the job of paid professionals to “help the needy” – we should have learned by now that by compartmentalizing our lives- our personal life from our work or careers, we are rendering ourselves ineffective.
My friend’s conception of the “lukewarm social worker” serves as a message to myself that if I want to help people, if I want the world to be a more just and equitable place, it is not going to be about WHERE I work, or WHAT I do, but rather WHO I am. Who YOU are. There are 168 hours in a week- you might work 40 of them…the question is what are you doing with the other 128 hours?
And to end on a rather cliché note, it really does come back to the idea of “BEING the change you want to see in the world”.
And again, I love that is concept is so compatible with the message of Jesus- it’s not about what you do, where you work, what you believe, where you come from- but rather it’s about the unchanging truth that we are loved. And if you ARE something- it should pour out of you and flow into every area of your life.
That is where change is going to come from.