1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:28,520 2 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:42,500 Peter Morales: Good evening. 3 00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:54,580 And welcome to the 2014 Ware Lecture. 4 00:00:54,580 --> 00:00:57,510 We're honored to have as our Ware lecturer this year, 5 00:00:57,510 --> 00:01:07,700 Sister Simone Campbell. 6 00:01:07,700 --> 00:01:10,410 Sister Simone is one of America's most 7 00:01:10,410 --> 00:01:13,260 articulate and effective advocates 8 00:01:13,260 --> 00:01:16,250 for compassionate public policy. 9 00:01:16,250 --> 00:01:20,080 Sister Simone is a religious leader, an attorney, 10 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,820 and a poet who was been a passionate spokesperson 11 00:01:23,820 --> 00:01:28,120 for immigration reform, economic justice, and health care 12 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:29,770 for all. 13 00:01:29,770 --> 00:01:32,470 Two years ago she was instrumental in organizing 14 00:01:32,470 --> 00:01:40,756 the Nuns on the Bus tour as a way of drawing attention-- 15 00:01:40,756 --> 00:01:42,380 You've got to hold back or you'll never 16 00:01:42,380 --> 00:01:45,890 get you Ware Lecture here, folks. 17 00:01:45,890 --> 00:01:48,640 --as a way of drawing attention to the effects of the Ryan 18 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,290 budget on people in need. 19 00:01:52,290 --> 00:01:54,740 Last year she led a cross-country Nuns 20 00:01:54,740 --> 00:01:57,800 on the Bus tour focused on comprehensive immigration 21 00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,580 reform. 22 00:01:59,580 --> 00:02:02,830 I'm proud and happy to say that we Unitarian Universalists 23 00:02:02,830 --> 00:02:05,290 have been partners in her efforts. 24 00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:09,020 In fact I recall picking her up at Logan Airport in Boston 25 00:02:09,020 --> 00:02:13,530 last year, as she arrived to speak at a UU mass action 26 00:02:13,530 --> 00:02:14,594 event. 27 00:02:14,594 --> 00:02:16,760 In fact I was so excited that I took the wrong turn, 28 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:18,350 got on the wrong tunnel, and gave her 29 00:02:18,350 --> 00:02:24,350 an unexpected tour of downtown Boston. 30 00:02:24,350 --> 00:02:26,490 Her involvement in social justice work 31 00:02:26,490 --> 00:02:29,350 goes back to the 1970s. 32 00:02:29,350 --> 00:02:32,980 In her long career, she's been a leader in her religious order, 33 00:02:32,980 --> 00:02:35,170 Sisters of Social Service. 34 00:02:35,170 --> 00:02:38,760 And this year marks her jubilee celebration, 35 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:46,258 50 years of inspired and spiritual justice work. 36 00:02:46,258 --> 00:02:49,190 [APPPLAUSE] 37 00:02:49,190 --> 00:02:52,480 Her efforts have received much media attention, including 38 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:57,410 appearances on 60 Minutes, the Colbert Report, and the Daily 39 00:02:57,410 --> 00:02:59,940 Show with John Stewart. 40 00:02:59,940 --> 00:03:03,830 I'm so envious, I can't stand it. 41 00:03:03,830 --> 00:03:08,390 She was invited to speak at the 2012 Democratic National 42 00:03:08,390 --> 00:03:09,610 Convention. 43 00:03:09,610 --> 00:03:19,710 But now, Sister Simone, you've finally hit the big time. 44 00:03:19,710 --> 00:03:22,700 Now you join the distinguished list 45 00:03:22,700 --> 00:03:26,180 that you've all seen of Ware Lectures at the Unitarian 46 00:03:26,180 --> 00:03:28,830 Universalist General Assembly. 47 00:03:28,830 --> 00:03:31,650 It's an honor and a joy to have you with us. 48 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:34,240 Please join me in welcoming Sister Simone Campbell 49 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,700 as our Ware lecturer for 2014. 50 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:49,303 [APPLAUSE] 51 00:03:49,303 --> 00:03:59,740 Simone Campbell: Oh, thank you. 52 00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:02,250 All right, all right, all right. 53 00:04:02,250 --> 00:04:04,730 Thank you so much. 54 00:04:04,730 --> 00:04:07,450 But I have to say, it's just me. 55 00:04:07,450 --> 00:04:14,410 So it's us together that needs that applause. 56 00:04:14,410 --> 00:04:18,610 And I know that you are applauding 57 00:04:18,610 --> 00:04:21,620 the miracle of community, and being 58 00:04:21,620 --> 00:04:26,160 one in a spirit that is beyond each individual. 59 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:30,422 And in that way, we do build a future together, don't we? 60 00:04:30,422 --> 00:04:31,406 Yes. 61 00:04:31,406 --> 00:04:36,330 [APPLAUSE] 62 00:04:36,330 --> 00:04:41,330 Well, I am really honored and humbled 63 00:04:41,330 --> 00:04:46,770 to join that amazing list of lecturers. 64 00:04:46,770 --> 00:04:49,980 I am a bit stunned to do that. 65 00:04:49,980 --> 00:04:54,440 And it is true that I celebrated 50 years in my community, 66 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,520 it's actually in September, is the date. 67 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:58,350 Thank you. 68 00:04:58,350 --> 00:05:00,700 Some of my sisters applaud, too. 69 00:05:00,700 --> 00:05:02,560 They can't quite believe it. 70 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:08,060 But what I have been stunned by is 71 00:05:08,060 --> 00:05:14,190 that this journey of faith in my religious community 72 00:05:14,190 --> 00:05:17,490 has led to these surprising places. 73 00:05:17,490 --> 00:05:21,090 And what I have come to know is some of them 74 00:05:21,090 --> 00:05:24,020 work that you've been doing this week, 75 00:05:24,020 --> 00:05:30,150 like breaking out of buildings and boxes, 76 00:05:30,150 --> 00:05:36,170 is all about what this journey of faith is. 77 00:05:36,170 --> 00:05:41,440 The daring to try and reach for something new. 78 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:47,120 That is living our faith in this 21st century. 79 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,020 And quite frankly I'd much rather give the Ware Lecture 80 00:05:50,020 --> 00:05:52,850 than repel down the building. 81 00:05:52,850 --> 00:05:54,050 So I'm grateful. 82 00:05:54,050 --> 00:05:57,030 I am grateful. 83 00:05:57,030 --> 00:06:02,140 But this afternoon, I'd like to reflect with you 84 00:06:02,140 --> 00:06:09,464 on the journey of faith as walking towards trouble. 85 00:06:09,464 --> 00:06:11,750 Hmm. 86 00:06:11,750 --> 00:06:19,420 Because, well, when I was on the bus, the first bus trip, 87 00:06:19,420 --> 00:06:22,570 Bill Moyers program-- actually it 88 00:06:22,570 --> 00:06:24,730 was Judith Moyers, Bill's wife, who 89 00:06:24,730 --> 00:06:27,260 saw that it was going to be something. 90 00:06:27,260 --> 00:06:33,600 So she insisted that Bill send a full-time photographer, 91 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:35,790 videographer, on the bus. 92 00:06:35,790 --> 00:06:39,540 And Andy Fredricks was our videographer, 93 00:06:39,540 --> 00:06:42,730 and he was interviewing me and we were almost 94 00:06:42,730 --> 00:06:46,520 done with the trip, and he asked me this question. 95 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,790 He said, well Sister Simone, it seems 96 00:06:50,790 --> 00:06:56,150 like whenever there's trouble, you walk towards it. 97 00:06:56,150 --> 00:06:59,240 Most people run away. 98 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:01,750 And I got thinking about it. 99 00:07:01,750 --> 00:07:09,660 And I realized that all of our spiritual leaders, 100 00:07:09,660 --> 00:07:14,920 when there are broken hearts or pain in our world, 101 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,790 they have walked towards it. 102 00:07:17,790 --> 00:07:24,680 They walk towards the pain in order to embrace, touch, heal. 103 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:31,350 Now, that means if the high-level leaders do that, 104 00:07:31,350 --> 00:07:37,940 isn't that the witness that we all try to follow? 105 00:07:37,940 --> 00:07:40,650 Now, I realize-- Thank you. 106 00:07:40,650 --> 00:07:41,450 That's really nice. 107 00:07:41,450 --> 00:07:43,366 I'm not used to having applause in the middle. 108 00:07:43,366 --> 00:07:45,184 That's really nice. 109 00:07:45,184 --> 00:07:51,410 [APPLAUSE] 110 00:07:51,410 --> 00:07:54,540 But there's a part of me that has always 111 00:07:54,540 --> 00:07:57,290 believed we can make a difference. 112 00:07:57,290 --> 00:08:01,910 I'm not sure why. 113 00:08:01,910 --> 00:08:07,360 When I was in third grade, we had a really bad teacher. 114 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,040 And he was just impossible. 115 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,300 He just called on a few students, 116 00:08:12,300 --> 00:08:15,060 and I thought that was wrong. 117 00:08:15,060 --> 00:08:17,810 I thought he ought to take turns calling on everybody. 118 00:08:17,810 --> 00:08:20,140 Everybody should be included. 119 00:08:20,140 --> 00:08:23,960 And so I, in my third grade idea, thought, 120 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:30,420 well I'm going to try to show him what he ought to be doing. 121 00:08:30,420 --> 00:08:32,090 I've always felt sort of responsible. 122 00:08:32,090 --> 00:08:34,020 I'm the oldest in my family, I guess. 123 00:08:34,020 --> 00:08:39,720 So what I did was I wrote two plays during the year. 124 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,280 And our class put on the plays for the rest 125 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,150 of the grammar school. 126 00:08:45,150 --> 00:08:47,000 But my thing that was so important 127 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,430 was everyone had a part. 128 00:08:50,430 --> 00:08:54,180 Everyone was a part of the story. 129 00:08:54,180 --> 00:08:57,550 Now I don't know if that if Mr. Seymour got the message, 130 00:08:57,550 --> 00:09:01,120 but I do know what it did for our class, 131 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:02,690 was to bring us together. 132 00:09:02,690 --> 00:09:08,020 To make us a part, to make us one with each other. 133 00:09:08,020 --> 00:09:12,140 In fifth grade, I probably did my first radical feminist 134 00:09:12,140 --> 00:09:14,778 action. 135 00:09:14,778 --> 00:09:20,630 [APPLAUSE] 136 00:09:20,630 --> 00:09:24,752 Only I didn't know it at the time. 137 00:09:24,752 --> 00:09:31,750 But I was in a combined class with fifth and sixth graders, 138 00:09:31,750 --> 00:09:34,890 and the fifth grade girls had to play 139 00:09:34,890 --> 00:09:39,560 in the same location as the bossy sixth graders. 140 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:41,820 It was awful. 141 00:09:41,820 --> 00:09:44,620 And so my friend, Lizzie, and I organized 142 00:09:44,620 --> 00:09:48,560 all of the fifth grade girls into a club that, ironically, 143 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:52,340 was called the Copycat Club. 144 00:09:52,340 --> 00:09:58,470 But what we did was, we lobbied to get our own place 145 00:09:58,470 --> 00:10:00,530 on the playground. 146 00:10:00,530 --> 00:10:03,210 So that the fifth grade girls no longer had 147 00:10:03,210 --> 00:10:08,160 to be subjected to the bossiness of the sixth grade girls. 148 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,405 And I'm pleased to report, we were successful. 149 00:10:12,405 --> 00:10:16,680 [APPLAUSE] 150 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:19,200 Harmony prevailed. 151 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:23,210 But the lesson that I learned early on 152 00:10:23,210 --> 00:10:26,760 was that it is all about inclusion. 153 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,300 That there's room for everyone. 154 00:10:29,300 --> 00:10:34,500 And that if someone is left out of our care and our concern, 155 00:10:34,500 --> 00:10:39,790 we're missing a key voice in our community. 156 00:10:39,790 --> 00:10:45,330 And I learned you can organize to make a difference. 157 00:10:45,330 --> 00:10:51,940 Those two lessons are really key lessons for me. 158 00:10:51,940 --> 00:10:57,260 And over the years, I have come to know that those lessons have 159 00:10:57,260 --> 00:11:03,230 led me deeper into a life lived in a faith journey. 160 00:11:03,230 --> 00:11:08,360 Not a theological journey, not a journey of theories and ideas 161 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:12,140 of head-- you know, thoughts. 162 00:11:12,140 --> 00:11:15,815 Which in seminary you got do, so seminarians in here 163 00:11:15,815 --> 00:11:16,690 don't worry about it. 164 00:11:16,690 --> 00:11:17,870 It's an important step. 165 00:11:17,870 --> 00:11:23,460 But what you have to do is you have 166 00:11:23,460 --> 00:11:29,220 to let it sink down from the head into the heart. 167 00:11:29,220 --> 00:11:33,790 And if you are going to walk towards trouble, 168 00:11:33,790 --> 00:11:38,700 one of the first troubles that you have to walk towards 169 00:11:38,700 --> 00:11:43,200 is what I refer to as holy doubt. 170 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:49,460 Holy doubt is an essential element of holy faith. 171 00:11:49,460 --> 00:11:54,040 If we do not reverence our doubt, 172 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:57,630 then we become the measure of control. 173 00:11:57,630 --> 00:12:02,480 Of God, of living in our world, trying 174 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:07,120 to hold on and control everything that's happening. 175 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,700 When you walk towards trouble, you 176 00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:15,560 open-- my experience is, that I often myself to two questions, 177 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:21,330 to uncertainty, to risk, to knowing that I am not 178 00:12:21,330 --> 00:12:25,840 the measure or in control of the situation. 179 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:30,060 It is critical in our world at this time 180 00:12:30,060 --> 00:12:36,350 that we have the courage to walk into doubt, as much as we 181 00:12:36,350 --> 00:12:38,270 walk into faith. 182 00:12:38,270 --> 00:12:42,300 Because quite frankly, if we don't have doubt, 183 00:12:42,300 --> 00:12:48,970 we don't have faith if the only thing we have is certitude, 184 00:12:48,970 --> 00:12:54,320 I mean the absence of doubt with faith is certitude. 185 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:58,100 And that leaves us in a very righteous position. 186 00:12:58,100 --> 00:13:00,560 Walking towards trouble means we're 187 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:05,000 willing to open ourselves to the surprise. 188 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,650 To the 100% who has a different story. 189 00:13:07,650 --> 00:13:11,710 To different perspectives. 190 00:13:11,710 --> 00:13:16,110 So the importance of being uncertain 191 00:13:16,110 --> 00:13:20,740 means that I live a life that is slightly disturbed, if you 192 00:13:20,740 --> 00:13:24,350 want to know the truth. 193 00:13:24,350 --> 00:13:26,640 And a bit puzzling. 194 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:32,620 It has led me to surprising places like here and now. 195 00:13:32,620 --> 00:13:36,043 But-- which is a good thing. 196 00:13:36,043 --> 00:13:40,680 [APPLAUSE] 197 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:45,360 But being uncertain I really describe 198 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,180 as part of my spirituality. 199 00:13:48,180 --> 00:13:53,230 I describe my spirituality as walking willing. 200 00:13:53,230 --> 00:13:57,210 Walking willing to wherever we are led. 201 00:13:57,210 --> 00:14:00,200 Walking willing towards trouble. 202 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,720 Walking willing towards Congress. 203 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,070 Now that takes some doing, some days. 204 00:14:06,070 --> 00:14:09,730 But walking willing in a way that means, 205 00:14:09,730 --> 00:14:15,000 I am willing to risk and be present with you, 206 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,910 and hear your story. 207 00:14:17,910 --> 00:14:23,680 Now, I do know that our beloved Pope Francis, who 208 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,120 I'm calling Pope Frank, because I feel 209 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:29,560 really affection towards him. 210 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:31,222 He's pretty cool. 211 00:14:31,222 --> 00:14:34,670 [APPLAUSE] 212 00:14:34,670 --> 00:14:40,230 He says two really critical things for this talk. 213 00:14:40,230 --> 00:14:47,570 One is, that inequality is the source of all evil. 214 00:14:47,570 --> 00:14:48,436 Now-- 215 00:14:48,436 --> 00:14:49,924 [APPLAUSE] 216 00:14:49,924 --> 00:14:53,396 Absolutely. 217 00:14:53,396 --> 00:14:55,700 And where he's talking about that, 218 00:14:55,700 --> 00:14:59,880 he's talking about it in terms of economics. 219 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,880 But I would also like to posit that in this 220 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:10,480 walking towards trouble, if we come with certitude, 221 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,610 with folks who are puzzled and struggling, 222 00:15:13,610 --> 00:15:18,890 we bring an inequality of position, of view, that 223 00:15:18,890 --> 00:15:23,570 is the source of evil in that setting. 224 00:15:23,570 --> 00:15:26,770 Finances is one thing, our attitudes 225 00:15:26,770 --> 00:15:31,627 of righteousness and certitude are another. 226 00:15:31,627 --> 00:15:37,500 [APPLAUSE] 227 00:15:37,500 --> 00:15:42,040 And the second thing he says, that I treasure deeply, 228 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:47,390 is that reality is more important than theories. 229 00:15:47,390 --> 00:15:51,450 Reality is more important than theories. 230 00:15:51,450 --> 00:15:55,880 Now, let me give you a couple of examples. 231 00:15:55,880 --> 00:16:00,940 In 2008 I went on at Catholic relief service trip 232 00:16:00,940 --> 00:16:07,440 to Syria and Lebanon, to see the situation of Iraqi refugees. 233 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:13,580 And I went knowing that I oppose trafficking. 234 00:16:13,580 --> 00:16:16,460 I think most people here would oppose trafficking of people, 235 00:16:16,460 --> 00:16:16,960 right? 236 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:22,370 You all have committed to making sure 237 00:16:22,370 --> 00:16:25,550 that people are not trafficked in this new slavery 238 00:16:25,550 --> 00:16:27,970 in our society. 239 00:16:27,970 --> 00:16:29,670 But you know what happened there? 240 00:16:29,670 --> 00:16:33,350 In Syria I met a mom whose husband 241 00:16:33,350 --> 00:16:35,090 had been killed in Iraq. 242 00:16:35,090 --> 00:16:39,370 She fled to Damascus with her six children. 243 00:16:39,370 --> 00:16:41,340 In the Arab world, when you don't 244 00:16:41,340 --> 00:16:45,540 have a male in the household, you don't have a bread earner. 245 00:16:45,540 --> 00:16:48,850 And she had sent her boys, her younger boys, 246 00:16:48,850 --> 00:16:53,490 out on the street to try to clean shoes or do something, 247 00:16:53,490 --> 00:16:56,990 so that they could make a little money. 248 00:16:56,990 --> 00:17:00,490 But then, what she ended up doing, 249 00:17:00,490 --> 00:17:04,839 she told me, was she sold her oldest daughter 250 00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,990 so that the rest of her family could live. 251 00:17:07,990 --> 00:17:11,790 She wept when she told me that story. 252 00:17:11,790 --> 00:17:13,720 And I wept with her. 253 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:18,530 Because I had been so judgmental about anyone 254 00:17:18,530 --> 00:17:24,440 who would sell a member of their family. 255 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,590 If you walk towards trouble, you have to walk with an open heart 256 00:17:28,590 --> 00:17:30,670 and learn deeper truths. 257 00:17:30,670 --> 00:17:35,990 Learn that some of my simple-minded assessments 258 00:17:35,990 --> 00:17:38,000 weren't accurate. 259 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,870 To learn that there's a deeper story to trafficking 260 00:17:40,870 --> 00:17:44,470 of desperation, and of people who are so hungry that they 261 00:17:44,470 --> 00:17:49,540 will do anything to save their family. 262 00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:52,410 Another story from that trip is that, I 263 00:17:52,410 --> 00:17:54,910 had known that immigration-- I've 264 00:17:54,910 --> 00:17:57,290 been fighting for immigration reform in our country 265 00:17:57,290 --> 00:18:00,000 for the 10 years I've been at Network, 266 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,640 and I talked to some of you at the immigration session 267 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,340 this morning. 268 00:18:04,340 --> 00:18:09,220 But we went to the Lebanese detention center. 269 00:18:09,220 --> 00:18:13,670 I had not known the global perspective of immigration. 270 00:18:13,670 --> 00:18:15,830 We went to the Lebanese detention center 271 00:18:15,830 --> 00:18:18,010 because some Iraqis were there who 272 00:18:18,010 --> 00:18:23,210 were choosing to remain there as undocumented in Lebanon, 273 00:18:23,210 --> 00:18:28,420 rather than be deported back to Iraq. 274 00:18:28,420 --> 00:18:32,620 But let me tell you, this detention center was-- 275 00:18:32,620 --> 00:18:35,370 Oh, first of all I have to tell, General [? Hariki, ?] 276 00:18:35,370 --> 00:18:38,310 who stands about this tall, she just came barely 277 00:18:38,310 --> 00:18:42,330 up to my shoulders, was about the size of a pencil. 278 00:18:42,330 --> 00:18:44,690 She was very thin, very wiry, but she 279 00:18:44,690 --> 00:18:47,920 made us promise, if we told this story, 280 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:49,900 we would let you know she didn't like 281 00:18:49,900 --> 00:18:52,690 the situation that the detainees are held in. 282 00:18:52,690 --> 00:18:54,100 OK, everybody got that? 283 00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:56,430 She wanted something better for her people, 284 00:18:56,430 --> 00:18:58,760 but they didn't have any money. 285 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,810 OK, now I told her-- I've been faithful to my promise. 286 00:19:01,810 --> 00:19:05,530 But what we saw was this detention center 287 00:19:05,530 --> 00:19:10,860 in downtown Beirut that is built under the freeway. 288 00:19:10,860 --> 00:19:15,090 Now it's built under the freeway as in underground. 289 00:19:15,090 --> 00:19:17,520 It has no windows. 290 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,700 And the fresh air intake valve comes up 291 00:19:21,700 --> 00:19:25,780 in the median strip of the freeway. 292 00:19:25,780 --> 00:19:27,570 Yeah, oh. 293 00:19:27,570 --> 00:19:31,740 And the Iraqis that we saw there, had been there 294 00:19:31,740 --> 00:19:36,500 are over a year without seeing the sunshine. 295 00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:38,730 That's why we went. 296 00:19:38,730 --> 00:19:39,940 But you know what? 297 00:19:39,940 --> 00:19:41,040 I was open to that. 298 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,050 I thought I was walking towards that trouble. 299 00:19:44,050 --> 00:19:49,320 But what I was walking towards were these six cages of women, 300 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:51,810 we figured about 35 feet by 35 feet. 301 00:19:51,810 --> 00:19:54,660 They were built for 20 people. 302 00:19:54,660 --> 00:19:59,100 And they each had one bathroom, each of these cages. 303 00:19:59,100 --> 00:20:05,370 But what had happened was there were 50 or 60 in there. 304 00:20:05,370 --> 00:20:09,540 The women were held by nationality. 305 00:20:09,540 --> 00:20:11,700 The men were held alphabetically, 306 00:20:11,700 --> 00:20:17,750 we were told, by this big, burly guard, who sad, 307 00:20:17,750 --> 00:20:22,170 if we do it any other way, we have trouble. 308 00:20:22,170 --> 00:20:24,700 Now I have no idea what kind of trouble it was, 309 00:20:24,700 --> 00:20:27,330 I wasn't going to ask. 310 00:20:27,330 --> 00:20:30,100 But what we saw with the women were 311 00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:35,130 women from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, 312 00:20:35,130 --> 00:20:44,740 Vietnam, Cambodia, a bunch of the Stans, Bangladesh. 313 00:20:44,740 --> 00:20:46,860 And then running down in Africa we 314 00:20:46,860 --> 00:20:56,030 saw folks from Chad, and Sudan, and Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, 315 00:20:56,030 --> 00:21:01,410 Niger, and then across the top, Algeria. 316 00:21:01,410 --> 00:21:04,910 We saw women from the whole world 317 00:21:04,910 --> 00:21:09,440 who had come to Lebanon in the hope of a better 318 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,920 economic reality for their families. 319 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:17,650 These were undocumented people in a war-torn country, 320 00:21:17,650 --> 00:21:21,560 with the hope of being able to get a job to send money home. 321 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,600 We found out that the undocumented in Lebanon 322 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,040 principally run gasoline stations, 323 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,800 because the Lebanese don't like to do that. 324 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:37,520 I had never known the global reality of migration. 325 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,990 And we have this experience in our nation, 326 00:21:40,990 --> 00:21:44,100 but it is global truth. 327 00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:47,020 And so I wanted to share with you one of my poems 328 00:21:47,020 --> 00:21:50,460 that I wrote in response to that. 329 00:21:50,460 --> 00:21:53,450 And it's called Small Change. 330 00:21:53,450 --> 00:21:56,010 Because when you walk towards trouble, 331 00:21:56,010 --> 00:22:00,230 you have to notice uncomfortable truths. 332 00:22:00,230 --> 00:22:03,030 Here's a piece of the truth. 333 00:22:03,030 --> 00:22:05,720 It goes like this. 334 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,270 Dropped from the counter of globalization, 335 00:22:09,270 --> 00:22:12,780 in the midst of economic transactions. 336 00:22:12,780 --> 00:22:16,940 These human coins, illegal tender, 337 00:22:16,940 --> 00:22:22,770 get swept up into the dust pan of national identity and border 338 00:22:22,770 --> 00:22:24,570 security. 339 00:22:24,570 --> 00:22:30,500 These small coins of labor fall through the cracks of caring, 340 00:22:30,500 --> 00:22:35,390 ending up in dank, dark pens, smaller 341 00:22:35,390 --> 00:22:37,980 than pennies in the global wealth. 342 00:22:37,980 --> 00:22:41,950 Taken as too small to matter. 343 00:22:41,950 --> 00:22:48,910 Mere annoyances, or possible threat to the sovereign nation. 344 00:22:48,910 --> 00:22:53,310 These small coins are tossed into cages of 50, 345 00:22:53,310 --> 00:22:58,030 60, jumbled together, on the floor, in corners, 346 00:22:58,030 --> 00:23:00,690 along barred walls. 347 00:23:00,690 --> 00:23:03,960 They do not fit into ATM's. 348 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:09,560 They will not be received for deposit in the world economy. 349 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:16,130 They are spare change, tossed on the counter of globalization 350 00:23:16,130 --> 00:23:18,854 and forgotten. 351 00:23:18,854 --> 00:23:20,610 [APPLAUSE] 352 00:23:20,610 --> 00:23:27,380 Oh, thank you. 353 00:23:27,380 --> 00:23:34,040 It is these experiences that open us to the deeper truth, 354 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:40,320 if we are bold enough to walk towards trouble. 355 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,470 But I told you stories about international realities, 356 00:23:44,470 --> 00:23:47,720 and you think, oh that was pretty dramatic. 357 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:49,580 Well, it was pretty dramatic. 358 00:23:49,580 --> 00:23:50,850 But do you know what? 359 00:23:50,850 --> 00:23:54,960 These very same stories exist in this room. 360 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,930 Exist in our nation. 361 00:23:57,930 --> 00:24:01,220 What we have to do is open ourselves 362 00:24:01,220 --> 00:24:07,130 to listening and curiosity as a virtue of faith. 363 00:24:07,130 --> 00:24:09,060 Let me tell you a couple of more that 364 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:13,930 are local stories, that have affected me deeply. 365 00:24:13,930 --> 00:24:17,210 The first is about Robin. 366 00:24:17,210 --> 00:24:22,350 Robin is a young woman, probably mid 20s, 367 00:24:22,350 --> 00:24:23,910 and I got-- can you believe that I 368 00:24:23,910 --> 00:24:28,130 can say this-- I got to meet her at the White House. 369 00:24:28,130 --> 00:24:33,840 I was at the White House to-- it was just a quiet morning, 370 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,180 so I had nothing to do. 371 00:24:37,180 --> 00:24:39,150 But what happened was, I had been 372 00:24:39,150 --> 00:24:42,150 invited to be there for when President Obama signed 373 00:24:42,150 --> 00:24:45,600 the executive order to raise the minimum wage 374 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,695 for the federal contract workers. 375 00:24:48,695 --> 00:24:55,010 [APPLAUSE] 376 00:24:55,010 --> 00:24:57,270 And Robin was there. 377 00:24:57,270 --> 00:24:58,880 And she grew up in Virginia. 378 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,730 And she had walked by the White House, 379 00:25:01,730 --> 00:25:04,630 and this young woman in her mid 20s 380 00:25:04,630 --> 00:25:08,850 could not believe she was inside the White House. 381 00:25:08,850 --> 00:25:10,870 It was so exciting. 382 00:25:10,870 --> 00:25:13,540 And she had her cell phone, and so she 383 00:25:13,540 --> 00:25:18,140 took a picture of the chair she was sitting in. 384 00:25:18,140 --> 00:25:20,510 And we were going to be two rows back from where 385 00:25:20,510 --> 00:25:24,210 the president was going to sign the executive order. 386 00:25:24,210 --> 00:25:26,580 So having taken the picture of her chair, 387 00:25:26,580 --> 00:25:28,640 she said, would you take a picture of me? 388 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:29,280 Sure. 389 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,170 So I take a picture of her sitting in her chair. 390 00:25:32,170 --> 00:25:35,480 And then we take a selfie about us being together. 391 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,000 And we're doing all this, she is so excited, 392 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,530 she could not sit still for anything. 393 00:25:40,530 --> 00:25:42,100 And so I asked her, was she going 394 00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:44,470 to benefit from this executive order? 395 00:25:44,470 --> 00:25:45,540 She goes, oh no. 396 00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:47,290 But a good friend of hes was. 397 00:25:47,290 --> 00:25:50,110 And so she was really excited for her. 398 00:25:50,110 --> 00:25:55,610 She works for minimum wage at a national clothing store chain, 399 00:25:55,610 --> 00:25:57,690 and she said she gets to work full-time, 400 00:25:57,690 --> 00:25:59,810 she's really excited about it. 401 00:25:59,810 --> 00:26:03,130 And I commented on this sapphire blue dress she had, 402 00:26:03,130 --> 00:26:07,430 and she said, I got it at my store. 403 00:26:07,430 --> 00:26:11,180 I got it with my employee discount, and it was on sale. 404 00:26:11,180 --> 00:26:14,590 I paid $20.43 for it. 405 00:26:14,590 --> 00:26:16,760 And it was like, oh, what a treasure. 406 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,250 What a treasure. 407 00:26:18,250 --> 00:26:20,550 We talked a little while longer, and then 408 00:26:20,550 --> 00:26:26,100 she said to me, kind of quietly, you know, by looking at me, 409 00:26:26,100 --> 00:26:29,780 you would never know I have to live in a homeless shelter 410 00:26:29,780 --> 00:26:34,400 because I can't afford rent in this DC area. 411 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,670 It's just way too expensive. 412 00:26:37,670 --> 00:26:44,140 She makes $15,000 a year, gross. 413 00:26:44,140 --> 00:26:47,990 About $12,000, net. 414 00:26:47,990 --> 00:26:52,260 And has not enough money for rent, 415 00:26:52,260 --> 00:26:55,000 though she works full time. 416 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,270 Quite frankly that broke my heart. 417 00:26:57,270 --> 00:27:00,300 And here she was celebrating the fact 418 00:27:00,300 --> 00:27:03,780 that her friend was going to get a raise. 419 00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:08,520 And she said, well you know, if it happens for some of us, 420 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,240 it'll eventually happen for all of us. 421 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,830 We have to celebrate the progress. 422 00:27:14,830 --> 00:27:17,180 And I thought, wow. 423 00:27:17,180 --> 00:27:19,360 What wisdom. 424 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:25,130 When you walk towards trouble, there you find hope. 425 00:27:25,130 --> 00:27:27,600 Because it's in the relationship, 426 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:32,050 it's in the connection, it's in hearing the stories 427 00:27:32,050 --> 00:27:37,695 that hope, the communal virtue, is nourished. 428 00:27:37,695 --> 00:27:40,120 [APPLAUSE] 429 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:46,430 Thank you. 430 00:27:46,430 --> 00:27:52,490 A few weeks later, I was in San Diego at a fundraiser. 431 00:27:52,490 --> 00:27:55,270 All of you faith folks are familiar with fundraisers, 432 00:27:55,270 --> 00:27:58,450 you know how that goes. 433 00:27:58,450 --> 00:28:05,160 But I sat next to Jason, who was a 35-year old entrepreneur. 434 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,720 And he's one of those magic guys, that just sort of-- He 435 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,230 says, I wasn't smart in school, I got through college, 436 00:28:12,230 --> 00:28:14,950 I wasn't the brightest kid around. 437 00:28:14,950 --> 00:28:19,156 But I really have a head for business. 438 00:28:19,156 --> 00:28:20,780 Well it was great for him to know that. 439 00:28:20,780 --> 00:28:23,050 So he's grown three businesses. 440 00:28:23,050 --> 00:28:26,630 And at 35, he was about ready to sell his third business 441 00:28:26,630 --> 00:28:30,870 for some gabillion dollars, and what he said 442 00:28:30,870 --> 00:28:34,040 was that he had found, as a businessman, 443 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:38,670 that paying a living wage to all of his workers 444 00:28:38,670 --> 00:28:41,400 was really a value for his business. 445 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:46,810 That he invested in all of his people and had lower turnover, 446 00:28:46,810 --> 00:28:52,450 and had better productivity, and more employee loyalty. 447 00:28:52,450 --> 00:28:57,514 It was good for business, it was good for his people. 448 00:28:57,514 --> 00:29:03,250 [APPLAUSE] 449 00:29:03,250 --> 00:29:07,770 But he told me something I had never thought of. 450 00:29:07,770 --> 00:29:13,040 It was making him upset. 451 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,330 I forget exactly what, I think he said angry, 452 00:29:17,330 --> 00:29:22,610 that he came to realize that his tax dollars were 453 00:29:22,610 --> 00:29:25,510 going to fund his competitors. 454 00:29:25,510 --> 00:29:28,080 And I go, what? 455 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,770 Jason realized that his competitors were not 456 00:29:31,770 --> 00:29:33,860 paying a living wage. 457 00:29:33,860 --> 00:29:36,290 His competitors were paying low wages 458 00:29:36,290 --> 00:29:37,900 to their low-skilled people. 459 00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:42,910 And telling them to go get Medicaid, go get food stamps, 460 00:29:42,910 --> 00:29:46,530 go get public benefits. 461 00:29:46,530 --> 00:29:49,620 And Jason realized that his competitors 462 00:29:49,620 --> 00:29:51,790 had lower costs because of that. 463 00:29:51,790 --> 00:29:56,310 Because they were hiding some of their business costs 464 00:29:56,310 --> 00:30:02,580 by making sure their people ate with food stamps. 465 00:30:02,580 --> 00:30:06,060 Jason was upset that his tax dollars were 466 00:30:06,060 --> 00:30:12,590 going to fund his competitors, who could then undercut him 467 00:30:12,590 --> 00:30:14,680 when he bid for projects. 468 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:15,670 You got it? 469 00:30:15,670 --> 00:30:18,340 Make sense? 470 00:30:18,340 --> 00:30:23,070 And I realized, because I walked towards trouble 471 00:30:23,070 --> 00:30:26,440 and listened long enough to hear a perspective that I didn't 472 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:31,130 know, as opposed to just saying, back, back, 1%, 473 00:30:31,130 --> 00:30:32,663 I'm not talking to you. 474 00:30:32,663 --> 00:30:33,649 Right? 475 00:30:33,649 --> 00:30:42,040 [APPLAUSE] 476 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:47,080 Being open to every one means we hear perspectives 477 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,680 that we would not know otherwise. 478 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,580 We need to know those perspectives 479 00:30:53,580 --> 00:30:56,990 if we are going to make a difference. 480 00:30:56,990 --> 00:31:00,170 So Jason taught me that. 481 00:31:00,170 --> 00:31:02,510 Now Margaret. 482 00:31:02,510 --> 00:31:07,750 Some of you are from states where I'm still worried. 483 00:31:07,750 --> 00:31:10,680 I hope you can see this, if I hold her up. 484 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,460 I think you'll be able to see her. 485 00:31:12,460 --> 00:31:15,960 This is a picture of Margaret Kessler, who 486 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:21,700 died in 2012, because when she lost her job, 487 00:31:21,700 --> 00:31:25,010 she lost her health care. 488 00:31:25,010 --> 00:31:27,440 When she lost her job in the recession, 489 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,324 she couldn't afford COBRA coverage, 490 00:31:29,324 --> 00:31:30,740 which is the way you can privately 491 00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:32,560 pay for your insurance. 492 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,250 She knew she was at risk for colon cancer, 493 00:31:35,250 --> 00:31:38,910 and her sister tells me she was a really stubborn woman. 494 00:31:38,910 --> 00:31:42,560 So she never let her family know how bad things were. 495 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,570 But Margaret ended up getting colon cancer. 496 00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:48,380 And Jeannie, her sister, and her sister's partner, 497 00:31:48,380 --> 00:31:50,930 Lynn, brought me Margaret's picture 498 00:31:50,930 --> 00:31:53,620 when we were on the bus in Cincinnati. 499 00:31:53,620 --> 00:31:59,420 And they came directly from Margaret's memorial service, 500 00:31:59,420 --> 00:32:05,020 and they knew that Margaret would have wanted to be there. 501 00:32:05,020 --> 00:32:07,670 Because she was a shop steward and a troublemaker 502 00:32:07,670 --> 00:32:08,910 all her life. 503 00:32:08,910 --> 00:32:11,880 So they brought me her picture, and I 504 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,380 wept, because this is the whole point of the Affordable Care 505 00:32:15,380 --> 00:32:16,020 Act. 506 00:32:16,020 --> 00:32:18,890 That everyone should have access to health care 507 00:32:18,890 --> 00:32:22,228 eventually in our nation. 508 00:32:22,228 --> 00:32:30,170 [APPLAUSE] 509 00:32:30,170 --> 00:32:33,290 But here's the deal. 510 00:32:33,290 --> 00:32:37,190 The only way Margaret would've gotten coverage, 511 00:32:37,190 --> 00:32:42,408 is if Medicaid is fully expanded in every state. 512 00:32:42,408 --> 00:32:48,400 [APPLAUSE] 513 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:53,080 I am a fiend for the expansion of Medicaid, 514 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,630 because no more Margarets should die. 515 00:32:56,630 --> 00:33:01,300 It is the right thing to do. 516 00:33:01,300 --> 00:33:06,540 [APPLAUSE] 517 00:33:06,540 --> 00:33:13,280 The problem is, it's politics that is stopping this. 518 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:14,300 It's politics. 519 00:33:14,300 --> 00:33:18,430 It's a theory about the political game. 520 00:33:18,430 --> 00:33:24,620 And remember, reality is more important than theories. 521 00:33:24,620 --> 00:33:30,090 Margaret's story will triumph, but it's up to us 522 00:33:30,090 --> 00:33:32,450 to be fueled by her story. 523 00:33:32,450 --> 00:33:35,360 And work in these 24 states that have not 524 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:41,760 expanded Medicaid, to ensure that no more Margarets die. 525 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,690 We have work to be done. 526 00:33:43,690 --> 00:33:47,560 But by walking towards trouble, by letting my heart be broken 527 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:49,660 by Margaret, you know what happened? 528 00:33:49,660 --> 00:33:53,130 Well I've talked about her, I've been fueled by my commitment 529 00:33:53,130 --> 00:33:55,930 to make sure no more Margarets die. 530 00:33:55,930 --> 00:33:59,560 But then I had the opportunity to see Jeannie and Lynn 531 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:04,610 last year, and I found out that my talking about Margaret 532 00:34:04,610 --> 00:34:08,739 had been healing for their family. 533 00:34:08,739 --> 00:34:12,909 They had been so guilty that she died without their knowing it, 534 00:34:12,909 --> 00:34:15,179 without helping. 535 00:34:15,179 --> 00:34:19,960 But my talking about her made some sense for them. 536 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:24,239 So the other piece about walking towards trouble, 537 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,159 is walking towards community. 538 00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:31,469 And you have no clue, when you embrace trouble, 539 00:34:31,469 --> 00:34:33,900 what are the consequences out there. 540 00:34:33,900 --> 00:34:36,010 What's the nourishment for others. 541 00:34:36,010 --> 00:34:41,900 What is the whole that gets generated beyond yourself. 542 00:34:41,900 --> 00:34:45,100 I had no idea about that. 543 00:34:45,100 --> 00:34:47,500 And it is the truth. 544 00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:53,120 Hope is generated in community. f Margaret gives me hope, 545 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,370 and I give Kessler family hope. 546 00:34:55,370 --> 00:34:58,970 And we are joined in one passionate caring, 547 00:34:58,970 --> 00:35:01,100 that no more Margarets die. 548 00:35:01,100 --> 00:35:05,450 That's where we go together, into the future. 549 00:35:05,450 --> 00:35:14,270 [APPLAUSE] 550 00:35:14,270 --> 00:35:15,970 Oh I can go on and on. 551 00:35:15,970 --> 00:35:18,822 Do you have room for one more story? 552 00:35:18,822 --> 00:35:21,130 OK. 553 00:35:21,130 --> 00:35:24,850 You're very sweet. 554 00:35:24,850 --> 00:35:29,710 And I wanted to tell a story from the bus trip 555 00:35:29,710 --> 00:35:31,980 last year, the immigration bus trip. 556 00:35:31,980 --> 00:35:34,760 Because, quite frankly, we all need 557 00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:41,950 to act for immigration reform this month, this week. 558 00:35:41,950 --> 00:35:45,240 [APPLAUSE] 559 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:46,630 We were in San Antonio. 560 00:35:46,630 --> 00:35:50,000 Do we have any San Antonio folks? 561 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,040 Yeah, San Antonio. 562 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:57,080 Well, we were in San Antonio, and somebody 563 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,750 had the bright idea about having an outdoor press 564 00:35:59,750 --> 00:36:06,230 Conference At 3:00 PM in June. 565 00:36:06,230 --> 00:36:08,890 They had gotten tents to put over 566 00:36:08,890 --> 00:36:17,390 the 300 people that had come to our event. 567 00:36:17,390 --> 00:36:20,360 But those of us speaking at this press conference, rally, 568 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:24,640 whatever it was, we were standing in the sunshine. 569 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,380 So they very thoughtfully decided 570 00:36:27,380 --> 00:36:30,020 that we ought to sit down. 571 00:36:30,020 --> 00:36:34,030 So they brought chairs that had been leaning 572 00:36:34,030 --> 00:36:37,280 against the wall in the sunshine, 573 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,990 and they were metal chairs. 574 00:36:40,990 --> 00:36:47,930 I will never forget San Antonio. 575 00:36:47,930 --> 00:36:48,610 Oh, yeah. 576 00:36:48,610 --> 00:36:50,920 It's beautiful. 577 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:57,670 But Congressman Pete Gallego was going to give a talk. 578 00:36:57,670 --> 00:37:00,970 And he's this really tall congressman from the area. 579 00:37:00,970 --> 00:37:03,970 And he came straight from the airport. 580 00:37:03,970 --> 00:37:08,500 And his wife and son were meeting him at the rally, 581 00:37:08,500 --> 00:37:12,070 and his eight-year old son, Nicholas, hadn't seen him yet. 582 00:37:12,070 --> 00:37:15,370 And so Pete comes up with his papers, 583 00:37:15,370 --> 00:37:16,870 and he's all ready to talk. 584 00:37:16,870 --> 00:37:20,760 He puts them on the podium, he takes that pregnant pause. 585 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,860 And Nicholas see dad, totally oblivious his dad's 586 00:37:24,860 --> 00:37:26,210 about to give a talk. 587 00:37:26,210 --> 00:37:28,900 And Nicholas goes, Papi! 588 00:37:28,900 --> 00:37:33,110 And runs up and throws his arms around him. 589 00:37:33,110 --> 00:37:36,130 And everybody goes, ahh. 590 00:37:36,130 --> 00:37:41,240 Well that sort of took the solemnity out of the event. 591 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:46,300 But Pete said, ruffles Nicholas's hair, and says, 592 00:37:46,300 --> 00:37:48,390 I can't give you my talk. 593 00:37:48,390 --> 00:37:51,100 I have to tell you when my attitude towards immigration 594 00:37:51,100 --> 00:37:53,180 changed forever. 595 00:37:53,180 --> 00:37:56,740 When I was in the delivery room when this young boy was born, 596 00:37:56,740 --> 00:38:02,900 and I first held them in my arms, I knew that I, as a dad, 597 00:38:02,900 --> 00:38:08,300 would protect him from anything, anything. 598 00:38:08,300 --> 00:38:11,510 I would give my life for this little boy. 599 00:38:11,510 --> 00:38:15,230 And I knew then, I was like every other parent who 600 00:38:15,230 --> 00:38:18,660 would protect their child. 601 00:38:18,660 --> 00:38:22,480 A few days later, we were at the Pascua Yaqui reservation 602 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:27,640 in south of Tucson, and I was talking to the chairman there. 603 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,650 And Chairman Pete told us about the problems 604 00:38:30,650 --> 00:38:32,280 for the indigenous peoples. 605 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:34,430 And probably some of you know this, 606 00:38:34,430 --> 00:38:39,410 but I hadn't realized it, that for those on reservations 607 00:38:39,410 --> 00:38:42,050 at the border, it is horrible. 608 00:38:42,050 --> 00:38:44,320 Because Chairman Pete told us that he 609 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:48,290 has 20,000 tribal members on the Mexico side, 610 00:38:48,290 --> 00:38:51,840 40,000 on the US side, and he said 611 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,040 we are one people divided by two countries. 612 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,680 Because every time they want to hold a meeting, 613 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,360 then they have to deal with visas and travel 614 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,950 and restrictions, and all of this. 615 00:39:02,950 --> 00:39:07,030 It's also true that we've built this ridiculous fence up 616 00:39:07,030 --> 00:39:10,540 to the reservation, and the impact on the reservation 617 00:39:10,540 --> 00:39:14,030 is that it has channeled the criminal activity 618 00:39:14,030 --> 00:39:15,820 through the reservation. 619 00:39:15,820 --> 00:39:17,990 For the first time, the indigenous people 620 00:39:17,990 --> 00:39:21,620 are having to put locks on their doors. 621 00:39:21,620 --> 00:39:26,900 To worry about kidnapping and robbery. 622 00:39:26,900 --> 00:39:29,350 Chairman Pete said that the growth industry 623 00:39:29,350 --> 00:39:33,800 on the reservation for the first time is the locksmith. 624 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:35,420 It was shocking. 625 00:39:35,420 --> 00:39:39,050 But then he told me, not knowing the story of Pete Gallego, 626 00:39:39,050 --> 00:39:43,280 he told me that he, himself, had found the body of a woman who 627 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,500 had been apparently trying to cross, 628 00:39:45,500 --> 00:39:48,560 curled up under one of the big bushes. 629 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:51,110 And when they rolled her body over, 630 00:39:51,110 --> 00:39:55,300 she was holding the body of her small child. 631 00:39:55,300 --> 00:39:59,610 And I knew that woman had the same commitment, 632 00:39:59,610 --> 00:40:04,350 the same hunger, to care for her child that Pete had. 633 00:40:04,350 --> 00:40:07,200 One happens to be in Congress, and the other 634 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,400 happens to be dead in the desert. 635 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:14,220 It is a common story of parents caring for their children. 636 00:40:14,220 --> 00:40:19,030 And right now we have a wave of young children coming across 637 00:40:19,030 --> 00:40:23,190 without parents because of violence and fear. 638 00:40:23,190 --> 00:40:28,060 And some in our nation want us to believe that they're aliens, 639 00:40:28,060 --> 00:40:31,150 they're evil, send them back. 640 00:40:31,150 --> 00:40:33,890 But much of it is fueled by our refusal 641 00:40:33,890 --> 00:40:36,560 to fix our broken immigration system. 642 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:39,410 Our refusal to deal with the consequence of our trade 643 00:40:39,410 --> 00:40:40,150 policy. 644 00:40:40,150 --> 00:40:44,980 Our refusal to deal with the truth 645 00:40:44,980 --> 00:40:46,760 of our life in this world. 646 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:49,650 That this global issue impacts us 647 00:40:49,650 --> 00:40:55,210 and we need to fix that reality. 648 00:40:55,210 --> 00:41:03,210 [APPLAUSE] 649 00:41:03,210 --> 00:41:07,700 So I do this because of faith. 650 00:41:07,700 --> 00:41:13,480 I do this because I am challenged to radically accept 651 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:19,080 everyone, because every time I let my heart be broken open, 652 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:22,480 and hear a new story, I hear something new. 653 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:24,580 I hear something new from Pete Gallego, 654 00:41:24,580 --> 00:41:27,430 I heard something new from Jason the entrepreneur, 655 00:41:27,430 --> 00:41:32,270 or Robin the clothing-store worker. 656 00:41:32,270 --> 00:41:35,880 I hear something new from Margaret's family. 657 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,740 Radically accepting also means that I hear something new 658 00:41:39,740 --> 00:41:43,590 from Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, all the people 659 00:41:43,590 --> 00:41:48,910 I have on my mistake of God list. 660 00:41:48,910 --> 00:41:57,590 [APPLAUSE] 661 00:41:57,590 --> 00:42:02,650 As people of faith walking towards trouble, 662 00:42:02,650 --> 00:42:05,300 we need to embrace them too. 663 00:42:05,300 --> 00:42:11,600 Because what I have discovered, unless I hold them in my care, 664 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:14,940 unless I, in my way of expressing it, 665 00:42:14,940 --> 00:42:20,320 acknowledge and love the God in them, and at odds with the God 666 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:25,420 in me, the challenge is to be open. 667 00:42:25,420 --> 00:42:28,390 [APPLAUSE] 668 00:42:28,390 --> 00:42:32,170 But then once you're open-- Some people get nervous. 669 00:42:32,170 --> 00:42:33,720 It's too much like the '60s. 670 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:36,210 A bunch of us remember the '60s. 671 00:42:36,210 --> 00:42:40,500 And you know, do whatever you want, just don't hurt anybody. 672 00:42:40,500 --> 00:42:46,570 But what I've realized though, is 673 00:42:46,570 --> 00:42:48,760 if we're going to walk towards trouble, 674 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,680 if we're going to let our hearts be broken open, 675 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:56,450 the reality is, is that we have to radically accept 676 00:42:56,450 --> 00:43:00,310 and fight-- and fight. 677 00:43:00,310 --> 00:43:05,090 But too often our fighting becomes fighting against, 678 00:43:05,090 --> 00:43:08,960 where we get stuck pushing back and talking 679 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,760 over and over about, (GRUNTING). 680 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:13,880 Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. 681 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,790 It's more like a tug of war. 682 00:43:16,790 --> 00:43:19,340 That's not the kind of fighting I'm talking about. 683 00:43:19,340 --> 00:43:21,930 If we're going to walk towards trouble, 684 00:43:21,930 --> 00:43:24,880 then what we have to do is find a way 685 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:34,140 to stand side by side, where we look at the problem together. 686 00:43:34,140 --> 00:43:40,060 Where we try to define the problem with everyone's story. 687 00:43:40,060 --> 00:43:43,150 And if everyone's story is in the mix, 688 00:43:43,150 --> 00:43:46,600 we're halfway to solving that problem. 689 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,660 Because then we can see where the commonalities are. 690 00:43:49,660 --> 00:43:51,830 Then we can see who's left out. 691 00:43:51,830 --> 00:43:54,300 Then we can invite more people in. 692 00:43:54,300 --> 00:43:58,450 But we have to fight for the vision, for the possibility, 693 00:43:58,450 --> 00:44:00,670 for the new way forward. 694 00:44:00,670 --> 00:44:03,720 Because right now there is no vision. 695 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:05,480 And in the Hebrew scriptures, it says 696 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:08,410 without a vision, the people perish. 697 00:44:08,410 --> 00:44:12,190 We, the people, need to create that vision 698 00:44:12,190 --> 00:44:15,990 through radical acceptance and fighting. 699 00:44:15,990 --> 00:44:19,240 So I challenge all of you to do this. 700 00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:21,920 And you could say, well isn't that nice for a Catholic 701 00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:26,200 to say that. 702 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:31,320 They're always so certain. 703 00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:35,480 Not really, but-- But you know what? 704 00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:40,250 While radical acceptance and fighting requires action-- 705 00:44:40,250 --> 00:44:42,200 and let me put this little plea in here. 706 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:45,590 Please call your representatives frequently, 707 00:44:45,590 --> 00:44:49,710 often in the next month until August recess, 708 00:44:49,710 --> 00:44:52,580 to get Speaker Boehner to bring immigration 709 00:44:52,580 --> 00:44:54,550 to the floor of the House. 710 00:44:54,550 --> 00:44:58,208 Because we have the votes. 711 00:44:58,208 --> 00:45:03,940 [APPLAUSE] 712 00:45:03,940 --> 00:45:05,930 Put them on speed dial. 713 00:45:05,930 --> 00:45:07,490 Put them on speed dial. 714 00:45:07,490 --> 00:45:09,220 Call them every day. 715 00:45:09,220 --> 00:45:12,470 But tell your member of Congress to be a missionary, 716 00:45:12,470 --> 00:45:15,540 go tell Speaker Boehner to do it. 717 00:45:15,540 --> 00:45:18,660 Now I said earlier that my analysis 718 00:45:18,660 --> 00:45:24,080 gets to be-- I get kind of exercised about this. 719 00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:27,710 So I'm getting to the point where I'm getting to my, 720 00:45:27,710 --> 00:45:33,750 do it, dammit, phase. 721 00:45:33,750 --> 00:45:36,910 But I do this because of faith, even 722 00:45:36,910 --> 00:45:39,220 though I may swear occasionally. 723 00:45:39,220 --> 00:45:41,540 It is faith based. 724 00:45:41,540 --> 00:45:45,870 It is, for me, my path has led deeply 725 00:45:45,870 --> 00:45:48,200 into the contemplative reality of God that 726 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:50,670 is just beyond understand. 727 00:45:50,670 --> 00:45:54,370 It is such a rich and fabulous gift to me. 728 00:45:54,370 --> 00:45:57,270 This radical acceptance and fighting. 729 00:45:57,270 --> 00:46:00,360 Knowing that God is alive in our world. 730 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:01,540 But you know what? 731 00:46:01,540 --> 00:46:08,650 We're a pluralistic society, as you all know really well. 732 00:46:08,650 --> 00:46:15,180 But we are also, in our nation, a pluralistic society. 733 00:46:15,180 --> 00:46:21,210 So I cannot expect anyone to hold my faith. 734 00:46:21,210 --> 00:46:22,400 But you know what? 735 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,840 Where we meet is in the Constitution. 736 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,480 Where we meet is in community. 737 00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:30,710 Where we meet is in the first three 738 00:46:30,710 --> 00:46:36,540 words of the Constitution, which is, we the people. 739 00:46:36,540 --> 00:46:41,550 It is an unpatriotic lie that we're based in individualism. 740 00:46:41,550 --> 00:46:45,855 And we have got to cut it out. 741 00:46:45,855 --> 00:46:52,600 [APPLAUSE] 742 00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:55,180 It's we, the people. 743 00:46:55,180 --> 00:46:57,120 It is we, the people who are going 744 00:46:57,120 --> 00:46:59,420 to lead us out of this wilderness. 745 00:46:59,420 --> 00:47:01,540 It is we, the people that are going 746 00:47:01,540 --> 00:47:05,480 to give a backbone to Speaker Boehner and the rest 747 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:06,250 of the House. 748 00:47:06,250 --> 00:47:09,530 It's we, the people that are going to make something happen, 749 00:47:09,530 --> 00:47:13,210 because it's we, the people that can create the vision. 750 00:47:13,210 --> 00:47:16,370 It is true that without a vision the people perish. 751 00:47:16,370 --> 00:47:18,570 But my friends, you are a vision. 752 00:47:18,570 --> 00:47:22,510 You are people committed to the 100%. 753 00:47:22,510 --> 00:47:24,730 You are committed to opening your hearts, 754 00:47:24,730 --> 00:47:28,400 to walking towards trouble, to making a difference. 755 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:32,640 So I urge you to do a few specific actions. 756 00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:34,910 In the Constitution, where we meet, 757 00:47:34,910 --> 00:47:39,320 I'd like to encourage you to grocer-store missionary work. 758 00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:41,080 I talked a little bit about this earlier, 759 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,100 but what you need to do is this. 760 00:47:43,100 --> 00:47:45,190 It's very simple. 761 00:47:45,190 --> 00:47:48,400 Talk to folks you don't know about stuff that matters. 762 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:53,190 Not just about the World Cup or about baseball or football. 763 00:47:53,190 --> 00:47:56,650 We have to begin talking again about important issues. 764 00:47:56,650 --> 00:47:59,090 So what I do is, standing in line at the grocery store, 765 00:47:59,090 --> 00:48:02,540 because I don't stand in line many places very often, 766 00:48:02,540 --> 00:48:06,580 is I'll say to the person behind me or in front of me, hey, 767 00:48:06,580 --> 00:48:08,080 have you thought about this effort 768 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:09,640 to raise the minimum wage? 769 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:11,960 What do you think? 770 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,530 Have you thought about immigration reform? 771 00:48:14,530 --> 00:48:15,740 Just pick one. 772 00:48:15,740 --> 00:48:17,340 What do you think? 773 00:48:17,340 --> 00:48:21,290 And what I have discovered is people have thought about it. 774 00:48:21,290 --> 00:48:22,830 But nobody ever asks them. 775 00:48:22,830 --> 00:48:24,720 And they're quite surprised, but they 776 00:48:24,720 --> 00:48:27,210 have something important to say. 777 00:48:27,210 --> 00:48:30,170 If we are serious about walking towards trouble, 778 00:48:30,170 --> 00:48:33,840 and opening our hearts to hearing the deeper story, 779 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:36,640 we've got to have these conversations 780 00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:38,680 about serious stuff. 781 00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:41,020 We have to have conversations about our values, 782 00:48:41,020 --> 00:48:45,580 about what really matters to us as a nation. 783 00:48:45,580 --> 00:48:49,090 We have to walk towards community, and away 784 00:48:49,090 --> 00:48:53,590 from the unpatriotic lie of individualism. 785 00:48:53,590 --> 00:48:56,700 And what I have discovered is that when 786 00:48:56,700 --> 00:49:00,160 you walk towards community, we become 787 00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:06,740 deeply aware of the truth that we're in this together. 788 00:49:06,740 --> 00:49:08,660 That we are not separate. 789 00:49:08,660 --> 00:49:12,400 That there is no real discernible difference, when 790 00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:15,910 you get right down to it, everyone 791 00:49:15,910 --> 00:49:21,350 is like Pete Gallego, and the woman who died in the desert. 792 00:49:21,350 --> 00:49:22,750 Everyone's like Margaret. 793 00:49:22,750 --> 00:49:24,140 Everyone's like Robin. 794 00:49:24,140 --> 00:49:26,140 Everyone's like Jason. 795 00:49:26,140 --> 00:49:28,580 We may have different stories to tell, 796 00:49:28,580 --> 00:49:31,500 but it's the same hunger, the same desire, 797 00:49:31,500 --> 00:49:34,420 the same passion to make a difference in our world. 798 00:49:34,420 --> 00:49:36,090 To care for family. 799 00:49:36,090 --> 00:49:40,450 To be who we are called to be. 800 00:49:40,450 --> 00:49:46,270 And so I have come to know, in my little, limited experience, 801 00:49:46,270 --> 00:49:53,700 that it is the divine that hums us all the time. 802 00:49:53,700 --> 00:49:55,610 Hums each one of us. 803 00:49:55,610 --> 00:49:58,560 I think of God as the hum of the universe that's 804 00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:02,570 holding us together in a loving embrace. 805 00:50:02,570 --> 00:50:05,210 That's how I experience it. 806 00:50:05,210 --> 00:50:08,220 But when I'm separated by myself, 807 00:50:08,220 --> 00:50:11,460 I lose touch with that deeper reality. 808 00:50:11,460 --> 00:50:16,820 Where we are called to make this vision is community. 809 00:50:16,820 --> 00:50:22,430 Hope is a communal virtue that we only know together. 810 00:50:22,430 --> 00:50:26,110 And it's in that light, it is in that quest 811 00:50:26,110 --> 00:50:29,680 for hope together, that we get surprised. 812 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:32,600 If you walk towards trouble, you'll 813 00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:35,470 have a lot of people walking with you, 814 00:50:35,470 --> 00:50:37,130 if you do it together. 815 00:50:37,130 --> 00:50:41,720 And that is the way it can be done. 816 00:50:41,720 --> 00:50:47,170 As I know, we will not be left orphaned. 817 00:50:47,170 --> 00:50:50,170 If you walk towards trouble, it's 818 00:50:50,170 --> 00:50:56,200 a vibrant life of faith and treasured doubt. 819 00:50:56,200 --> 00:51:01,790 If you walk towards trouble, all you have to do is do your best. 820 00:51:01,790 --> 00:51:03,030 It's enough. 821 00:51:03,030 --> 00:51:10,450 Because in community, in community, it all gets covered. 822 00:51:10,450 --> 00:51:13,650 And so to conclude, I want to end with one of my poems 823 00:51:13,650 --> 00:51:18,500 because this says it for me. 824 00:51:18,500 --> 00:51:22,579 And I wrote it on the last night in Baghdad in 2002. 825 00:51:22,579 --> 00:51:24,370 Don't you love just being able to say that. 826 00:51:24,370 --> 00:51:27,440 Yes, it was our last night in Baghdad. 827 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:30,620 Before we invaded, I went on a small peace delegation. 828 00:51:30,620 --> 00:51:32,420 And on our last night in Baghdad we 829 00:51:32,420 --> 00:51:36,890 went to an Italian restaurant, and when we came 830 00:51:36,890 --> 00:51:43,580 back there was a wedding party on the sidewalk 831 00:51:43,580 --> 00:51:46,040 in the light from the plate-glass window. 832 00:51:46,040 --> 00:51:55,780 And in that light, there was a violin and this accordion 833 00:51:55,780 --> 00:51:58,902 and people were dancing. 834 00:51:58,902 --> 00:51:59,610 It was wonderful. 835 00:51:59,610 --> 00:52:02,270 And we stood around, there were 11 of us, and we stood around, 836 00:52:02,270 --> 00:52:05,180 and then they drew us into dance. 837 00:52:05,180 --> 00:52:07,110 And this man next to me who was trying 838 00:52:07,110 --> 00:52:09,290 to show me how to do this folk dance, 839 00:52:09,290 --> 00:52:12,760 leans over and says to me, how long do my niece 840 00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:16,950 and her new husband have to live in peace? 841 00:52:16,950 --> 00:52:22,170 How long until you start bombing us? 842 00:52:22,170 --> 00:52:25,650 It is this poem that was given that night. 843 00:52:25,650 --> 00:52:30,250 And this is all about why we have to walk towards trouble. 844 00:52:30,250 --> 00:52:34,570 And it's called Incarnation, and it goes like this. 845 00:52:34,570 --> 00:52:38,460 Let gratitude be the beat of your heart. 846 00:52:38,460 --> 00:52:42,820 Pounding Baghdad rhythms, circulating memories, 847 00:52:42,820 --> 00:52:45,500 meaning of this journey. 848 00:52:45,500 --> 00:52:49,370 Let resolve flow in our veins, fueled 849 00:52:49,370 --> 00:52:54,630 by bosphorus destitution, risking reflective action 850 00:52:54,630 --> 00:52:57,120 in a 15-second world. 851 00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,890 Let compassion be our hands, reaching 852 00:52:59,890 --> 00:53:03,260 to be with each other, all others, 853 00:53:03,260 --> 00:53:07,660 to touch, hold, heal this fractured world. 854 00:53:07,660 --> 00:53:11,880 Let wisdom be our feat, bringing us to the crying need 855 00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:16,750 to friends or foe, to share this body's blood. 856 00:53:16,750 --> 00:53:20,420 Let love be our eyes, that we might see the beauty, 857 00:53:20,420 --> 00:53:26,440 see the dream lurking in the shadows of despair and dread. 858 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:32,230 And let community be our body warmth, radiating Arab energy, 859 00:53:32,230 --> 00:53:36,820 to welcome in the foreign stranger, even the ones who 860 00:53:36,820 --> 00:53:38,970 waged this war. 861 00:53:38,970 --> 00:53:43,810 And let us remember on drear, distant days, 862 00:53:43,810 --> 00:53:47,670 we are a promised Christmas joy. 863 00:53:47,670 --> 00:53:52,380 We live as one, this fragile, gifted life. 864 00:53:52,380 --> 00:53:56,350 For we are the body of God. 865 00:53:56,350 --> 00:53:59,342 Thank you so much 866 00:53:59,342 --> 00:55:39,590 [APPLAUSE] 867 00:55:39,590 --> 00:55:44,570 Peter Morales: You know, this year's public witness event 868 00:55:44,570 --> 00:55:48,390 is about walking toward trouble at WaterFire. 869 00:55:48,390 --> 00:55:51,620 What a perfect message for us tonight. 870 00:55:51,620 --> 00:55:58,390 So later on, we get to do it, to quote you, dammit. 871 00:55:58,390 --> 00:56:01,370 And before that, Sister Simone will 872 00:56:01,370 --> 00:56:04,750 be signing copies of her book, A Nun on the Bus. 873 00:56:04,750 --> 00:56:08,110 But that will only occur if we allow her to get out 874 00:56:08,110 --> 00:56:11,900 into the entry area of the Dunk. 875 00:56:11,900 --> 00:56:19,560 So once again, thank you so very much for that message. 876 00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:22,910 [APPLAUSE] 877 00:56:22,910 --> 01:28:53,014