Service

Service means to be of purpose-to have intent in an every day pursuit. I ensure that I am of service to others through my commitment to prayer for personal service. By maintaining my own personal relationship with the Divine, I am able to be a more effective human. I find that I am more giving, more thoughtful, deliberate, and careful. Joy and optimism seem to also stem from personal service of prayer. Service also means that after care for self- I seek to be of help to those around me. I do this most effectively by finding a subject that I am passionate about, and committing myself to the project. While I continue to work on this CPE, I continue to find myself more and more drawn to this work. There have been some downs, but certainly more inspirational ups throughout. Granted, it has been only 3 weeks, but I find this service to be some of the most rewarding work I have ever done.
I make sure that I am of service to others by continually reevaluating my own personal philosophies. I reevaluate how I spend money, who I spend time with, and what I do with all my gifts and talents. The question then begins to transform to “What do I do?”
I make the commitment to my community because I feel very strongly that there are ways that I am called to be of service. I will continue to participate in different activities, and community organizations until these aspects of life are no longer relevant.

Compassion

It's a new dawn, a new day, and I am feelin' fine!

This half of the week will be a bit different for the first half of the week. Joseph, one of my supervisor's has pulled me off delegations, and we are going to be pounding the pavement/ringing the bells (phones) of local churches to arrange meetings. So, for this week, no more delegations- though yesterday I was able to participate in the most profound of delegations that I have seen so far. The gentleman that we spoke with was by far the most receptive and made sure that the strikers knew he felt their issues were a priority. He took over 3 pages of notes! It was so affirming.

Continuing my reading in the book, "Of Human Hands" I want to share a selection from chapter 6, pg. 51:"Compassion, however is the most vital tool of my trade...Often a single words of understanding or a mere look of genuine concern is just the right dose of medicine to help heal a bruised heart...The real rewards are invisible and intangible. They are the warm feelings that penetrate my soul and the personal satisfaction at the end of my working day. It's these that assure me that I have done God's work and have done it well!"

When I reflect on the idea of a job well done I immediately go back to my childhood. We (the Mougey Children) had job lists on days off from school, and most of the summers as well. While we would never have admitted such thinking on our own, when prompted we would acknowledge that a sense of pride and satisfaction was a part of the pay off for our work around the house. That sense of satisfaction continues to guide me through every endeavor. Very rarely do I leave a job/vocation without a feeling of satisfaction- knowing that I have done my best-and feeling well regarded by the community I am leaving behind. The men that I am working with this summer are facing the notion that their regard for their work doesn't matter-the bottom line of what can get done the quickest, with the least amount of money is the outcome. I think that is a crime! Humans by their very nature are creative (we create children, pictures, music, art,-we even call it MAKING love!)and when the creative nature of humanity is denied, it is not long before we begin to see other human elements begin to disappear. The strikers say, "They treat us like their animals, they take better care of their machines than they do of us. If a machine breaks down, it gets fixed, if we get sick because of dehydration, we get sent home." What about the hospital?

It seems that there is a real sense of compassion missing from their work, from their boss, and at large, from the community.

The End of Week 1-Perseverance

My First Week…
Officially, I love this work! I think if the rest of my time was like this first week- this experience will be all that I had hoped for. I find the work very challenging, fluid, and life giving. Three of the five work days I got up at 4:00 am (I was very impressed with myself). My days were made up of getting picked up by the workers, checking out work sites to see if other companies were still hiring the company that the workers were striking from. There are a couple sites that have contracted with the company. After checking the work sites, we went out and did some hand billing. Hand billing is handing out papers that reveal that companies are still hiring this company that the abuses their workers. (The police were called on Tuesday, and I was chosen to speak to them.) Delegations followed for the rest of the morning, and three evenings found me attending meetings with another supervisor who is dealing mostly with the religious communities and other community organizations.
Another highlight was on Thursday we went to a rally at the city offices to protest the blatant waste of money that the Sheriff of Maricopa County was able to justify. Currently, he is the only Sherriff in the United States to not carry a firearm because he has a law suite against him (he has been sued concurrently for the last 10 years).
I am reading a book-Of Human Hands: The Christian at Work in the World, A Reader in the Spirituality of Work. Jeff Behrens writes on page 33,
God would have enjoyed every tale of woe and promise and found something of himself in each person there. Their lives were such a potpourri of goodness and wisdom, tempered b the brute numbness of factory labor and the unfairness of the way things are when the lack of power and money afflict human life. There was something sacramental to it all.
I found this section to be so profound. There is a goodness in the struggle that these workers are undertaking. Granted the workers have been facing this struggle for the last 3 years, but the perseverance in which they continue their stand for justice is based out of a loyalty for their friends and family who still work for this company. The workers are fighting and remaining in this struggle for the common good. That is the innate goodness that is present in their lives.

Day 1-All Religions Believe in Justice

I am finished with my first day of work. That is a bit of an understatement, since I had been participating in orientation with other IWJ summer interns last week. My time in Chicago was great- and there was great discussion about the history of unions, and a greater understanding of our own rolls with the unions over the summer (see previous post for more detailed explanation).


My day began at 6:00 am. Interestingly enough, I was on time. As mornings are not necessarily my most productive time, I myself was a bit skeptical. I spent an hour and a half going over the history of the AFL-CIO and the Ironworkers Union in Arizona-specifically rebar workers. At about 8:30 I left with Felipe and about 7 other men with Union to go on Delegations. (A Delegation is when a group of workers go as a group to inform local businesses and owners about the abuses of possible employers that they could come into contact with.) Today we went to an area business owner who is possibly going to hire the company that the rebar workers are striking against. Next, we met with the city manager of Tempe, and finally with an accountant for another construction company.

It seems that my day is going to consist of early mornings, with hand-billings (fliers that tell the story of the workers, and we hand them out at the work site where other workers are not striking-in an attempt to inform them that there is a way to deal with the injustices and abuses happening on the work site) more delegations, afternoons essentially off and meetings in the evenings with area religious groups or organizations. So as I plan to continue to work, I have begun to wonder, what does work mean to us? How do we value the work that we do?

fUnKY GuPpIes

The last couple of days have been filled with intense learning, prayer, and continued discernment about the summer that is to come. I have been barraged with stories of workers facing injustices in the workplace over and over. I sometimes find myself feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the men and women who continue to be exploited by the companies and men and women who profit from their labors. The excerpt found on the statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your weak and your poor…” are still there. They have not been erased though they have I am sure been eroded through pollution and just weather wear. The greeting that my ancestors read as they sailed the Atlantic Ocean is the message that is not being relayed to the workforce presently in America.

Walking through downtown Chicago- there are taxis everywhere. I was so tempted after hearing about the Taxi-Divers Campaign in Nashville, TN to ask each individual driver if they were unionized. I was visiting with fellow interns about the reality of our lives being forever changed. I will not be able to go into a hotel without examining or researching whether or not the hotels have union contracts for their employees. Tomorrow, in the afternoon, we will be as a group joining the longest workers strike in America today. The Congress Plaza hotel has refused to negotiate a contract with their employees for the last five years. There has been an individual striking everyday-24/7 for the last five years! What a testament to the spirit of these men and women, and the validity to their campaign.

I continue to be reaffirmed in my decision to have been a part of this organization. Some clarifications have been made that I would like to post on the blog simply because I want to be clear about what I will be doing this summer. I will NOT be working for a labor organization. Instead, I will be working with religious leaders, encouraging them to organize on behalf of the workers to speak about the human dignity of work, and how a just wage and benefits are great not only for employees to adopt (increase public morale) but to also see that it is great for the work force of America. Essentially, this is an issue of poverty. To continue to eradicate poverty from our world, religious leaders can speak on behalf of their congregations to alert the business communities that just wage/living wage is an important issue.

*I have learned some more information about my stay in Phoenix, and will be joining an already existing campaign. I will be leading and organizing delegations of clergy men and women to fight for the rights of the men and woman of the Great Western Campaign for the Iron Workers Union. Please continue to keep me in prayer that I may continue to be a vessel of transformation for myself and the men and women that I will encounter.

1st full day of Training...

This bench is located at West Point Military Academy close to Trophy Point. (That is all I can say without being snarkily sarcastic.)

Today my day began with a keynote by Dr. C. Melissa Snarr from Vanderbilt University.

As she was a very good presenter the main point of her message was simple:
"Social compassion is more important that efficiency." WOW! What a great inclusive understanding of what catholics are called to invest their lives in. This concept is so disconnected from our cultural understandings of productivity. So much in our society is based upon numbers, and the efficiency of factory production (whether it is a meat packing plant or a toy production company). This understanding of compassion calls into question very specifically our own interpretations of compassion. Is it compassionate for people of a certain faith persuasion? (As I am Roman Catholic woman, I generally approach and speak specifically from this tradition's perspective.) Dr. Snarr went on to say that with social compassion comes an understanding of the call to responsibility. There is an implicit-ingrained understanding that we as HUMANS have a moral obligation and responsibility to be compassionate to one another. It is not compassionate to engage in wage theft. It is not compassionate to be promoting a work schedule that does not embody the guidelines and regulations set up by the Department of Labor.

One aspect of this training that continues to call my own naivete into question is that these abuses take place in restaurants, and school/university cafeterias. These awareness call into question the practices at St. John's University. As I currently don't know who is providing the food services there, I cannot rightfully speak about any injustice. However, be certain that I will be finding this information out, and additionally noting who is providing these services at the University.

There is one member of those who are participating in the training who is agnostic, and that has continued to challenge my understanding of "Interfaith". Interestingly enough he will be leading our morning reflection tomorrow. I had several conversations with this man today, and would say that he embodies compassion, but I wonder, as he is from central Iowa, how does he encounter compassion?

How do you encounter compassion in your daily life? With others?

Preperations Have Begun

The picture is of my sisters, Kati, Heidi, myself, and my brother Joel.
My life has been in a bit of an upheaval in the past week and a half. I am back visiting my parents in my hometown. It has been a good time. I spent the last week in New York gathered with my family to celebrate as my brother graduated from West Point Military Academy. (Note: I protested the commencement speech given by the Secretary of the Army by listening to my Ipod. The Indigo Girls raged in my ears with their “Despite our Differences” CD.) I find this to be one of the paradoxes in my life that I easily embrace. I struggle to live and embody peace, and peaceful choices, and come from a family that continues to embrace their own definitions in different ways than I do. I find that I can embrace these differences because we respect each other. I am so proud of my brother, and it was a truly moving experience to se the “long gray line”. Each of us siblings is so different, we have all chosen to participate in different fields of work, and yet each of these fields inherently finds its roots in service. That is a value that both of my parents have worked hard to instill into our daily living.

My week in New York:
Great food
Kayaked the Hudson River with my sister Kati at sunset!!! –Gorgeous!
Hiked a mountain in the Hudson River Valley with Joel!!!! - Gorgeous!
Fell down the mountain and sprained my ankle—Grace is still not my middle name!!!
Found out that I will NOT be going to Austin, Texas for the summer, rather, I will be in Phoenix, Arizona working with Ironworkers.
Went to the Broadway production of Spamalot! -Fantastic! (But no Jersey Boys!)
Had a great time with my sister Heidi and my common-law-brother-in-law Dominic!
My book came in for my ILP portion of the CPE experience.

I leave for my orientation training in Chicago on Sunday. Once there I will be posting twice a week, and will be doing one posting specifically on the practical happenings- the learning’s, and the second post will most likely focus on how I am internalizing this experience, and what this will mean to me.
Please pray for me, the other men and women taking part, and for those we will be working with and for.