Working for justice for the least of one's neighbors

¶ … Justice for the Least of Their Neighbors

What if everyone in this world only cared about themselves? Imaging what a cold and dark world this would be. Putting oneself aside to focus on others is not an easy thing to do, yet many do is selflessly. Father Pedro Arrupe was the twenty-eighth Superior General of the Society of Jesuits. He believed in public service. A life of public service is not only important, but necessary. As a Jesuit, God must always come first and those who put Him first in their lives will welcome a life of service. They will enjoy servicing those who are as fortunate than they are.

A public servant seeks to serve those who may be less fortunate than others. Many colleges and universities now have programs which award degrees in this field. However, there are many public servants who do not even call themselves this. They help others and enjoy doing so because of their core beliefs. One person that comes to mind is my best friend's aunt. Everyone calls her Aunt Mary because she is like everyone's favorite aunt. Although she was raised in a poor neighborhood in the 1970's by her single mother, she was always taught by her mother's example to help others. She always tells us that they had very little growing up, but her mother would always feed some of the neighborhood children whom she knew did not have a hot meal on a daily basis. Her mother would also give her and her two sibling's clothes to their neighbor's children once they outgrew them.

Aunt Mary met and married a wealthy man right out of college. She says she never wanted for anything. She always drove the best cars, wore the nicest clothes and lived in the wealthiest neighborhoods. Even though her mother passed right after she finished high school, Aunt Mary never forgot the examples of service that her mother provided. She belonged to a church with a mix of parishioners. Some were poor, some were middle class and a few were wealthy. She knew the 'feel good' mood that most parishioners had while in church services, but she also was aware that many of the poorer members were single mothers trying to make ends meet the same as her mother.

She got together with some of the middle class and wealthy members and they formed a group at the church where clothes were donated and interview and job skills were taught in order to help the women who were less fortunate become more economically independent. Many of the women in the organization were college educated, had excellent computer and interpersonal skills and more importantly many of them had a closet full of nice clothes and shoes that they rarely wore.

They decided not to turn their organization into a nonprofit. They continued to run it from the church basement and according to Aunt Mary, it is very successful. She says that every woman who was gone through the program has been able to move from welfare to work and is now self sufficient. The organization has recently begun providing free legal service regarding child support for the single mothers. This service has been a tremendous help for not only the women, but their children.