Thoughts on The Long Haul

Just finished reading the book The Long Haul By Myles Horton.  This was an incredible book about social change and education.  The Highlander school has positively influenced communities for over sixty years.  The following are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

“God is love, and therefore you love your neighbors.  Love was religion to her, that’s what she practiced.  It was a good nondoctrinaire background, and it gave me a sense of what was right and what was wrong.  I’ve taken this belief of my mother’s and put it on another level, but it’s the same idea.  It’s the principle of trying to serve people and building a loving world.  If you believe that people are of worth, you can’t treat anybody inhumanely, and that means you not only have to love and respect people, but you have to think in terms of building a society that people can profit most from, and that kind of society has to work on the principle of equality.  Otherwise, somebody’s going to be left out.” –page 7

“From Jesus and the prophets I had learned about the importance of loving people, and the importance of loving people, the importance of being a revolutionary, standing up and saying that this system is unjust.  Jesus to me was a person who had the vision to project a society in which people would be equally respect, in which property would be shared; he was a person who said you have to love your enemies, you have to love the people who despise you.” –page 26

“…try to find out how to get social justice and love together.” –page 32

“I don’t think you help people by keeping them enslaved to something that is less than they are capable of doing and believing.  I was told one time during an educational conference that I was cruel because I made people who were very happy and contented, unhappy, and that it was wrong to upset people and stretch their imaginations and minds, and to challenge them to the place where they got themselves into trouble, became maladjusted and so on.  My position was that I believed in changing society by first changing individuals, so that they could then struggle to bring about social changes.  There’s a lot of pain in it. And a lot of violence, and conflict/ and that is just part of the price you pay.  I realized that was part of growth-and growth is painful.  A plant comes through the hard ground. And it breaks the seed apart.  And then it dies to live again. 

I think that people aren't fully free until they’re in a struggle for justice.  And that means for everyone.  It’s a struggle of such importance that they are willing, if necessary, to die for it.  I think that’s what you have to do before you’re really free.  Then you've got so much you want to do.  This struggle is so important that it gives a meaning to life.  Now that sounds like a contradiction, but I encourage people to push limits, to try to take that step, because that’s when they are really free.” –page 184

“As I read about birds, I realized that they not only use tail winds but they don’t fight the winds.  They change their course year after year on the basis of the particular situation.  They never come back exactly the same way twice because the conditions are never the same, but they always get to their destination.  They have a purpose, change tactics according to the situation.  I thought, for God’s sake they’re pretty smart, why can’t we learn not to do things when it’s almost impossible?  Why can’t we learn to hole up and renew our strength?  Why can’t we learn to change the entire route if it’s necessary, so long as we get to the right point?  I started learning from the birds about how to take advantage of crisis situation and of the opposition and use that knowledge for my own purposes.” –page 199

“Goals are unattainable in the sense that they always grow.  My goal for the tree I planted in front of my house is for it to get big enough to shade the house, but that tree is not going to stop growing once it shades my house,  It’s going to keep on growing bigger regardless of whether I want it to or not.  The nature of my visions are to keep on growing beyond my conception.  That is why I say it’s never completed.  I think there always needs to be struggle.  In any situation there will always be something that’s worse, and there will always be something that’s better, so you continually strive to make it better.  That will always be so, and that’s good, because there ought to be growth.  You die when you stop growing.” –page 228

Lessons from the rejected

Lesson 3

Reflections from CHUM's Development Director, Mary Schmitz

I listened to a variety of Christmas music this weekend.  I love all kinds of Christmas music as it prepares me for my favorite holiday!

As I dusted and moved the furniture in preparation for putting up my Christmas decorations, I hummed along.  When “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” began I listened with a new pair of ears.  Rudolph was different He was left out.  Members of his community didn’t know how to engage with him.  Rudolph was hurt that he didn’t have anything to offer.

The folks we meet and advocated for at CHUM day after day are like Rudolph.  We don’t understand who they are and why they are not like us.  We can’t always see how to engage with them.  We are not sure if we should greet them, make eye contact or even if we should walk by them.  They appear different from us.

But fortunately Rudolph did have a special gift to offer, one that others couldn’t give.  Each person we meet has something to offer, even when it is not readily apparent.

As you hustle and bustle in preparation for your faith traditions holiday, take just a moment to acknowledge and engage the “Rudolph’s” among us.

I finished up my internship last week.  A majority of the time I spent at CHUM was with the employment program.  Many of the people I worked with have a pretty rough background.  Felonies and addictions make them unemployable.  I often wondered what their lives would look like if people gave them a chance.  A chance to work, to have an income, to provide for themselves and their families, to have responsibility, and to have dignity.  There is a tricky balance between having the compassion to give people a second chance while still reminding them that there are consequences for past mistakes.  With that in mind, I hope that we all can find ways to show compassion to those around us.  May we see value and worth in all people and may we empower them to live out their strengths in beautiful ways...no matter who they are.