This I Believe

I believe in being idealistic. I believe that the way the world is, is not how it is supposed to be. I believe the world can change, and human beings are the ones responsible for creating change. I have been told, more than once, that I hold unattainable standards and the world will never be as good as I desire it to be. Even my Ennegram type tells me the same things. But nevertheless, I believe in holding unattainable standards. I remember clearly a poster that stretched across the chalkboard in my first grade classroom. The poster said, “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will land among the stars.” I am sure many first grade classrooms had the same poster, but I have thought about it many times in my life. Today, I believe in shooting past the moon.

I do not believe in being satisfied with “okay” or “a little better” when it comes to people’s lives. I believe one reason we exist on this earth is to share and live in community with other people, a community that has no borders or definitions. And part of being in community is supporting those people in your community.

What does that mean for me, a person of privilege, living in a world of inequality? It means that I have to believe in something better, something ideal, and the ideal is attainable.

This past year I have been exposed to a different world, a different way of life from what has always been my reality. I have seen and befriended people living in extreme forms of poverty. I have met people working for development and dedicating their lives to the pursuit of social justice. I have met people from all walks of life, with different backgrounds and different perspectives. And I often come away from these encounters with one prominent feeling, hope. Hope that things will be better, that things have to change.

But too often I feel overwhelmed by the problems Guatemala faces. Many days it feels like development is a distant dream that will never be recognized. The overwhelming problem is you can work trying to combat one issue, but you encounter so many more that impede your efforts in trying to solve the other. For example, domestic violence is a huge problem throughout Guatemala (and the world). Pastoral de la Mujer (where I have been working) spends a lot of time giving workshops to our women on domestic violence. We teach women about the different forms of violence, and emphasize that violence against anyone is wrong. We encourage women to be supportive of one other, especially those women who are living in violent households. We encourage women to speak out against the violence and teach their children that violence is wrong, even if they see their fathers or uncles or grandfathers abusing their wives or children.

Now this is good and necessary, but is not sufficient. In the majority of situations the women literally have no choice but to stay in their violent situation. A woman might come to our workshop and recognize she is living in a violent situation and want to leave her husband. But the woman has too many other obstacles (all development related) in her way.

1. The woman has no where safe to go. Her family and friends will not accept her back into their house for social reasons, they don’t have economic resources to support her, or both. Also, there are no shelters for women in Guatemala and the police will not protect the woman. It is commonly thought that women are the cause of the problem. If they were a better wife they would not be abused.

2. The woman has no economic means. Since she got married she has been a housewife, and has no money that is “hers.” She cannot support herself or her children and has no competitive skills to find work. Plus, there is simply no work to be found for anyone.

3. She has no education. She went to school when she was very young, but then her parents decided to pull her out so her brothers could study and had to spend her days working with her mother in the house. She is unable to read or write, thus making her even more unemployable. It is impossible for her to go back to school because she has her children and responsibilities to them.

4. She has four children. She can’t leave with her children because she has no way to support them. Men hold all the power and if she was to leave with her children, the police would come and take her children to return to her husband. So, if she wants to keep with her children, she has to stay.

5. She has no legal or government support. Sure there are laws against domestic violence and violence against women in general, but they are not enforced and most people don’t even know they exist.

6. Finally, she feels obligated to her husband and community.

Now this is just one example among many and the point is, you cannot combat one problem without facing many others that need attention too. There is no one problem more pressing than another. So yes, these issues often lead to feeling of despair and hopelessness. But I choose to stay idealistic because there is hope. There is a lot of hope in the small changes that are happening every day. I am the first to admit that we are not changing the majority of the women’s lives, but every now and then there are a few who decide to change the way they live, and change the way their daughters live.

No, the world will not change overnight, but if people, all over the world, choose to truly live in community, the world can and will change. If people of privilege, like myself, choose to live a little more simply, a little more sustainably, we can create change. I do not only believe in small changes. I also believe in government and international action that is working along with the small changes that come from people choosing to live a little more simply so that others can simply live. I believe that God walks with us and accompanies us in this world, and He set pretty idealistic goals for this world. I believe in being idealistic about what our world can and should be.