“There are causes worth dying
for, but none worth killing for.”
~Albert Camus

I read an article in “Rolling Stone” today about how three young adults, two brothers and their sister, came very close to leaving Chicago and traveling to join ISIS, the Islamic State if Iraq and Levant. They were very ordinary Muslim youth waiting for a cause worth living and dying for.

Once, when I was a Youth Director at a Catholic Church, on a confirmation retreat the pastor quoting Martin Luther King Jr. said: “If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Deep down I believe youth want something worth dying for and if someone can touch their heart with that message they will rally and support the cause. ISIS has certainly found out a way to touch the heart of Muslim young adults all over the world.

Dorothy Day and many others have said that Revolution starts with a “change of heart.” The Society of St. Vincent de Paul which has the challenge of doing works of mercy with people in need has a motto that says: “End Poverty through Systemic Change.” To change other systems and institutions I believe one, like with revolution, needs to start with change of their own system and institution. My effort to do that as voice for the poor, however, ended up, with me being ‘suspended from the Society’ for advocating systemic change in the Milwaukee Society.

One thing in common for those willing to give their life for the Islamic State and institutions working for systemic change is that both the individual and institutions are willing to sacrifice, even to the point of giving up their own existence for change.

After another, and major, rejection, this time from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul a group that I really believe in and worth giving my life for, I am discouraged about searching for the truth and speaking the truth, as we see it, to the powers that be. However, something inside me says keep on going, keep struggling for the truth and be not afraid to speak and act out.

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