Activist Teachers

A person is not born an activist. A child at the start is only interested in its own wants and needs. A child doesn’t understand about others. A child knows when it is hungry or wet or tired or cold. It is only when a child gets older that it starts to realize that there are others who also have needs and wants. Learning to care for others is something that is taught. I was not born an activist. I learned to be an activist through men and women who were my teachers in life. Many of these men and women were priests and nuns in the Catholic Church that I grew up in.

If you look at the story of the Civil Rights Movement you will see priests and nuns, ministers and rabbis, religious members from many faiths marching and protesting and going to jail as they fought for the rights of every man. These were the people who taught me that all men have the same rights. They taught me that all men are equal.

I grew up in California. I grew up when the Farm Worker’s Union was being started. I knew priests and nuns who were there fighting along side of the farm workers. They believed that the farm workers had the right to a better life. Some went to jail for their beliefs but they continued to fight.

Some men like the Dalia Lama fight on an International scale. He is a man who has been a conscience to the world for many years. He has tried to teach compassion and non violence towards all. He is first and foremost a teacher. One of my first teachers was a Franciscan priest named Father Bruno. Our parish and a parish down in Southern California “adopted” Father Bruno and his parishes in the rural and very poor Philippines during the reign of Marcos. Father Bruno needed a way to get around to the poor in outlying places. The women in the two parishes decided they would collect enough Blue Chip stamps to buy him a jeep. I spent many, many hours gluing stamps into books as the women went from parish to parish and collected stamps. In the end they had enough to buy a baby blue jeep and send it to the Philippines.

On his trips back to the San Francisco Bay Area I had a chance to learn from Father Bruno. I learned the problems of the poor when there are dictators like Marcos to oppress them. I learned about a lot of dictators from him. I learned about how to help others. I learned to be an activist. Father Bruno was arrested by Marcos regime and imprisoned. He was eventually deported and they confiscated that baby blue jeep that we sent to help him reach his parishioners. Father Bruno came back to the Bay Area and immediately asked to be assigned to one of the poorest areas so that he could continue to help those in need.

Talking to these men and women over the years I have learned that all of them believe that they are doing what Jesus commanded of them. They believe that they are living their faith by helping others. These were my teachers and I am thankful that they were a part of my life. I am thankful that they taught me how to be an activist.