QUOTES
"Sometimes
older folks tell me: 'I was idealistic and thought I could change the world once,
too, but then I grew up.' I'm trying to help us change our definition of growing
up, so that it ceases to mean giving up on our ideals, and comes to mean learning
how to live our dreams, every day, on the Earth. I want to awaken the passion
and creativity of youth, combine it with the wisdom, experience and insight of
elders, and transform our world."
"We
are moved to deep humility by the knowledge that even as we are blazing new trails
into an as yet uncharted future, we are following in the footsteps of a vast legacy
of spiritual leaders and social change makers. The struggle for justice is as
old as tyranny itself, and the longing for a world guided by love is as old as
the human heart. Thank you for joining us in carrying the great dream forward
through the next generation."
"I
used to think of the environment as trees and blue sky. Then I learned that for
some people, the environment is gangs and concrete. All the issues that we face
are connected. Worldwide, ecosystems are being destroyed, and indigenous peoples
are losing their homelands and their entire way of life. Three out of every five
African-Americans and Latinos in the US lives in a community with a toxic waste
site. As long as pollution is being produced, it's going to go somewhere, and
as long as there are marginalized communities where land is cheaper and the people
don't have the time or the money to fight back, polluters will have a place to
deposit toxins. As long as people and the planet are being exploited, and billions
of dollars are being made precisely because laborers and the environment are being
abused and used up, there will be children going hungry and ecological destruction.
As long as war and violence are in our hearts and our streets as well as in our
nations, as long as corporate greed and unsustainable consumption are at the forefront
of our economies, no child will be born into a truly safe, peaceful or loving
world."
"The
common thread is that instead of being victims of problems they didn't create,
the people we work with are looking at what they can do to become active participants
in the transformation of our world. They work in a huge range of areas, from social
justice to human rights to pregnancy prevention to ecology. But they care about
people and the planet, and their lives are given over to the prayer that they
might be of service to the vital work of our times. And they know how to have
fun and celebrate the beauty of people and the planet."
As
long as people and the planet are being exploited, and billions of dollars are
being made precisely because laborers and the environment are being abused and
used up, there will be children going hungry and ecological destruction.
