Proud Blonde!

My definition of social justice is to help the world grow humanely through encouraging my personal growth and helping others to act justly. I have been taught by my family and friends of three main respects: to respect the law, to respect God, and to respect myself. I have had to find the balance on my own, and found I can’t be any more loyal to one of these than another because they are all connected. It is the three connected respects that allow me to serve my definition of social justice. An imbalance of loyalty to these three main respects and I would not be able to fully devote myself to growing personally, help the world grow, or help others. I will help the world grow in social justice by encouraging my own self growth alongside leading others to grow with the world.

As a young lady still in high school, I may not be taken as seriously as an adult in my visions and ideas for a world society, but I will not give up. A world of love and prosperity are in my dreams, and as I grow into an adult I will encourage these positive attitudes everywhere I go. I will be an important part of my future on earth, and no matter who tells me I can or can’t, my life and growth is in my own hands. My growth is not only important to me, but the social justice and Catholicism values in this world depend upon it. I have grown into a young leader in my school and community in my young age, this leadership will allow me to be the change this world needs. In my school I am also the incoming student council president which will only further develop my leadership skills. I can lead others around me to embrace a loving and prosperous world through acceptance of social justice. I will continue to develop my leadership skills in high school and into my adulthood. I will be a leader in this world, but I will also develop other skills of mine that will help the world become a better place by bettering the friends and family around me. Other skills like my people-orientation and compassion help me understand what others need to hear and feel to know they can make a difference in this world too. And there are skills I have yet to develop that will also aid in my quest to educate and encourage my friends and family to embrace social justice and Catholic values. I will not have a satisfactory mark on my report card to life because I will never stop growing in spirit or love.

The most effective way to encourage the growth of others around me is not by preaching or lecturing, but leading by example as just another 17 year old girl. I may not yet be the example the world is about to follow, but I will grow showing others how to act as a Catholic in today’s world. My leadership skills I have developed as a young lady will help me to accomplish this, and maybe one day the world will use me as an example. I will strive to lead Catholics and non-Catholics as well as Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul II, but recognize that most people will not be able to survive that kind of life. I want my family and friends to realize they can still live their regular lives with an understanding of Catholicism and social justice. The most influential leaders can be just another person who wants to see change for the better, like Mohandas Gandhi who was born poor and died poor. I may never be a Nun or Sister, but I want others to recognize that I am on Earth to make a difference. I have very close friends and family who are not Catholic, but have come to understand Catholics better than just those who attend church on Sundays and pray to God. They aren’t going to convert to Catholicism tomorrow, but if they can understand the importance social justice and respect, they will understand what it means to be a socially just Catholic. This is the first step to world-wide social justice, now it is up to them to carry on the understanding I have hopefully given them and pass it on to others.

Pay It Forward is a movie I watched recently that shows exactly the kind of difference that I am able to make in this world as just one person. The steps to encouraging social justice growth in today’s Catholic and non-Catholic world may start with me, but it is those I encourage to grow with me who need to carry on this growth. It is up to these friends and family of mine to pay it forward to others they know. The only way for the entire world to feel the impact of growing social justice is to encourage it world-wide. Not everyone will embrace this growth and development like I have vowed to do, but if even one or two of those I impact and those they impact pay it forward, there is no telling how big this could get. We could end war, poverty, abuse, and the list goes on, should enough of us embrace social justice and Catholic values. I want every citizen of the world to understand and appreciate the importance of social justice and how we can all live justly and Catholically without having to be a saint or priest, or even Catholic. I am clearly not the first person to envision this chain; I am only one of the payers trying to make sure that more people hear the call to develop social justice and Catholicism. The world growth in social justice is the key to the development of the world in peace. Once the world can understand how important it is for social justice to play a role in every worldly decision, I will feel like I paid it forward enough to make this world a better place.

Learning to live within social justice and Catholic values will lead to the peaceful and loving world I want for myself and future generations. It is not becoming a perfect catholic or never breaking the rules that I see as the path to my ideal world, but that of each and every one of us humans being the best we can be. I will work towards being the role model of my vision. I will “do unto others as I would have others do unto me” but I will also go above and beyond these expectations. I will show the world that we cannot satisfy ourselves with the bare minimum requirements of a successful and fulfilled life, that we need to be above and beyond to make this world and our lives the best they can possibly be. I will not stop growing, and I want to make an impact on the world before I leave, I want the world to remember me for striving for above the bar and encouraging the rest of the world to follow my example.