This week we have a guest blogger, DARLENE M. OLIVER. She is an attorney with a wonderful story of her transformation from corporate lawyer to social justice champion. I was inspired by her journey and words below. I hope you will be inspired as well to follow your passion and purpose.
May you make the world a better place by sharing your gifts in loving service.
Linda
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In December 2008, I lost my partnership position at a law firm where I had worked for 8 years. The word ‘devastated’ doesn’t begin to describe how I felt on the day I was told, though nicely, that I’d have to look elsewhere for a paycheck because of the economy. I put on a brave face for the rest of the day. But when I got home and put my daughter to bed, I melted into a puddle of confusion, tears and anger. I thought I had done everything right — graduated from a respectable Midwestern liberal arts college, earned a law degree from Georgetown University and made partner at a firm doing civil rights work.
That night while ‘puddling’ on my living room floor, l cried out angrily to God. ‘Just what the hell am I supposed to do now? How could you build me up, bless me with a beautiful home, a lovely daughter and a solid career only to snatch that last one away? How am I going to support the first two with no job?’ With tears flowing down my face and curses on my lips, I reached for my bible. I had been cultivating my relationship with God for a long time. Surely He would tell me something in my time of need. Praying desperately for guidance, I opened my bible. I hadn’t turned to a specific page. I just wanted God to comfort me.
I guess He was listening. My bible fell open to Chapter 1 of Joshua. There, God tells Joshua that he has been chosen to lead the Israelites after Moses’s death. God must have known that Joshua needed some serious encouragement to fill the shoes of one of His greatest servants!
My eyes moved toward verse 9, which reads: “This is my command – be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. In that first Chapter of Joshua, God told him (and me!) 3 times to be strong and have courage. It was like God was shouting “Don’t give up Darlene! Keep moving! I’ve got your back!” In that moment, I took Him at his word. I dried my tears and got up off of the floor. My curses turned to praises. While I still had no idea what I was going to do financially, I knew that by leaning on my faith, I would be okay. I also knew that if I was honest with myself, I had been miserable at my firm for years. My spirit was tired and I had been quietly aching to do something different for a long time.
With those bible verses urging me on, I gathered my courage and started looking for work that would nourish me. For years I had volunteered on nonprofit Boards for a variety of organizations. Even before that, I had longed to do work that mattered. I wanted to impact people’s lives. Racial equality and social justice stirred my spirit. As a woman of color, I knew first hand that racism, sexism and poverty still existed in this country despite the accomplishments of the man currently in the White House.
In May 2010, I started working for a small nonprofit that focuses on breast cancer health disparities in the African American community. After getting the job, my blessings continued. In January 2012, the Chicago Community Trust, one of the largest community foundations in the country, awarded me a leadership development fellowship. Through this program, emerging nonprofit leaders receive funding to use toward their individually created professional development plans. The fellowship allows recipients to explore big ideas for their careers.
The soul of my fellowship plan lay in connecting with seasoned social justice leaders across the country. I wanted to know how they continued to fight against injustice despite frustrating political climates, apathy, and the slow pace of change. What kept these leaders going year after year? To me, these men and women are modern-day Davids fighting against the Goliaths of poverty, racism, sexism and greed. While Goliath often seems to be winning, these leaders never give up. What was the source of that “stick-to-it-iveness?” Because faith has played such a critical role in my professional and personal life, I also wanted to know if faith played any role in the ability of these leaders to keep fighting for the betterment of society.
During my fellowship year, I traveled to Washington D.C., Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles to meet these Davids. I also found many of them in my home town of Chicago. I was privileged to meet twenty five women and men who work hard every day to make our country a just place for ALL people. These encounters filled me with inspiration and hope. I learned that the best social justice leaders are servants to the people they work for and with. I learned that a powerful leader doesn’t have to know how to do it all herself. It is the collective work of an entire team that creates real social change. I learned that all of them, even those who don’t identify with any particular religion or faith, are led by an inner drive to right wrongs; a sense that unfairness exists and must be rooted out; a belief that all people are entitled to live free of man-made barriers like poverty and discrimination. I also learned that it is not enough to point out the injustices in this world. A true social justice leader must have a clear vision of what justice means and what the world should be.
Most importantly, I could see God working in the lives of these leaders. In their words, they echoed what He had whispered to me years earlier as I lay weeping on my living room floor. Be strong and have courage. Keep moving. Keep fighting the good fight for I am with you wherever you go.
© Darlene M. Oliver, February 15, 2013, Chicago, Illinois