Everyone should read the first chapter of the book Soul of a Citizen titled “Making our Lives Count” by Paul Rogat Loeb (my local library had the book and the first chapter is a fast read). In terms of motivating others and inspiring them to do things they wouldn’t have thought possible, this is the chapter for that. If you’re feeling discouraged that you don’t know how to help motivate change or even think up ideas that lead to sustainability, this is definitely the chapter for you. This one chapter woke me up…literally. It scared me to read, “a rich life”…is fundamentally a life of serving others, “trying to leave the world a little better than you found it…It has to do with what you see when you get up in the morning and look in the mirror and ask yourself whether you are simply wasting time on the planet or spending time in an enriching manner.”” I thought myself to be conscious of my actions; but this brought a completely different attitude on board. Am I contributing? Or was I merely watching my life pass by as I talk about change…but never act on it. Continuing the chapter I find I’m not the only who struggled. You meet Virginia Ramirez who was afraid to speak out and ended up changing her city, and then read about the inspirational Harvard Law School first full time black professor, scholar and author Derrick Bell who “took unpaid protest leave refusing to teach until the school hired a minority woman.” When they noticed injustice occurring in their cities and at their jobs they stood up for change because not standing up would have gone against everything they believed in. Their paths, just as our paths shouldn’t be a path taken alone. We need to work together for our group as a whole, for our community.
I’m extremely proud that the Starfish Project distribution center is located in Elkhart. Yes, there are local groups, and people that need the help here at home but by extending that concern to an international level broadens our own expectations of what everyone in each country should expect to have. We need the information of how other countries work well together and how they struggle to produce enough for their own. Then we need to figure out how to fix that information and change the rules around to be more aware of the individuals in the system…they are people, not just statistics. We all need the same tools to grow, tools that aren’t often regarded as such. The Systems Thinker introduces these as the “Tools for the Transition to Sustainability” as “not optional; they are essential characteristics for any society that hopes to survive over the long term” (4). These Tools are “visioning, networking, truth-telling, learning, and loving” (4). At Starfish Project they envision being able to educate and help teach women about an option at life, one away from trafficking and off the streets. They network through various websites and hold parties to sell the jewelry the women make and to tell the women’s stories. They are honest in their work, they know they cannot save every woman, but every woman that comes through their doors is offered the opportunity to change their own life (this belief is reflected in the name they chose to represent the based on the Starfish Parable as shown on their website).
They learn through each other and love one another. The community of Starfish-Project has raised my awareness that it’s better to speak out to help one, than save your words and actions while thinking you’ll eventually save many. I hope to find out more of the women’s stories and hopefully, also find out more about the women who started this group up. I’m curious to see how they had hoped Starfish Project would grow and how they could hope it could become even more sustainable in the future.
Leave a Reply