“My Soul refuses to be satisfied
as long as it is a helpless witness
of a single wrong or a single
misery.” M.H. Gandhi Mind of
Mahatama Gandhi, p17

One of the nice things, if there is any, of being ridiculed and marginalized, is that you can find out who your real friends are, quite easily.

I am reminded these days of a quote from Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara the deceased Roman Catholic Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil. He said: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.”

Today when people serve in food pantries or meal programs they are called good servants of God. However, when the same person calls for providing stoves and refrigerators so the poor so they can prepare and cook their own food they are ignored or marginalized.

In our efforts to Resurrect the Rims at Doyne Park for basketball playing for young adult African American males, or to eliminate the teaching of War and Killing at a Catholic University or to use the million dollars plus taken from the sale and closing of Catholic Churches in North Central Milwaukee to be used to create a sustainable fund for works of mercy in North Central Milwaukee we are insulted, called names like ‘arrogant’ or ‘racist’ or worst yet, ignored.

I am no Archbishop Camara, Dorothy Day, Jesus or St. Ignatius of Loyola that can take insults, injury and character assassinations and look at them as a blessing. It looks to me I can take the hurt, learn from it and keep on going, following my conscience, or give up. Why is so hard to just be who you are?

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