Why I Stay Committed to the Community

Guest post by Sandi Lusk
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“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” – Mother Theresa

I love this quote. It has inspired me to keep going in my community work for the past 25 years and brought home the true meaning of it all. All the things she mentioned have happened to me many times during my years as a community organizer.

We have been asked, “Why do you do it?”

At first I had no answer. Wouldn’t it be better to just take the easier route and avoid all the stress of events, planning, and funding (or lack thereof)? To have more free time as we get older and still work a full 40-hour week at very demanding jobs? To, instead, save the money that I put into WSZIO supplies and stuff every year? My husband calls it, “my second job.” and it definitely is. My kids are already grown.

So, why do I do it?

Here’s why: it’s the big smile on the face of a child who has just looked in the mirror at her face that we painted a pretty design on. It’s the little boy who won a dollar at our magic show this summer and was so excited he ran all over the park waving it around with glee. It’s the library kids who hold up their artful creations with such pride and offer to help us clean up before asking us when will we be back again (tomorrow?). It’s the kids we see in the community who remember us from the programs, kids who are now in high school and college that come up to us with smiles and hugs.

It’s the little girl who responded to her friend’s question, “Why do they come every year?” with the answer, “because they love us.

It’s also the Zerega school and the community coalescing around it. The pleasure of seeing Owen Dolen Plaza alive and vital as a regular venue for Westchester Square BID events. Soon, Westchester Square will have a new state of the art library, something we have longed for for years. It’s looking back on these things that makes what we do worthwhile.

Tonight I am feeling thankful for my WSZIO colleagues and companions who have been there through thick and thin. Among them are my sons and daughter-in-law, and life-long friends. I am also thankful for all those individuals and organizations we have worked so closely with to accomplish important community goals.

But most of all, I am thankful for the communities and the children we see at our events, who have been just wonderful. They are the real reason we, “Do it anyway.”

And so, to all of you during the holiday season, I would like to say we often focus only on the negative, and maybe it’s time to focus a bit more on the positive. The news out in the world has been nothing but bad fostering a sense that there are many reasons to give up. But the good we do, even if not immediately apparent or appreciated, does register somewhere. As I like to think, “virtue is its own reward” and we should do good anyway. Thank you Mother Theresa.

Wishing you all readers a happy, healthy holiday season. May you and yours be safe and warm, and find peace of mind in an often turbulent, uncertain world.

 

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