Remembering our better selves for such a time as this
BY DR. LESTER EDWIN RUIZ
Trust in such a way that those who desire fairness, kindness, and integrity will remember you.
Follow in such a way that those who face diversity, inclusion, or openness, or struggle to find their intellectual home, will remember you.
Speak in such a way so that those who need compassion, understanding, or safety will remember you.
Listen in such a way so that those who require hospitality, encouragement, or finding their voices will remember you.
Empower in such a way so that those who rise to question, protest, or challenge will remember you.
Persevere in such a way so that those who insist on preserving shared and accrued wisdom, the “life of the mind,” the intellectual task, and the call of research will remember you.
Fight in such a way that those who seek protection, counsel, or accountability will remember you.
Yield in such a way so that those who want forgiveness, recognition, or gentleness will remember you.
Risk in such a way so that those who dream of dialogue, collaboration, or partnerships, including shared governance, will remember you.
Imagine in such a way that those who aspire to the impossible, refuse the mediocre, and link the improbable to the desirable will remember you.
Create in such a way so that those who yearn to build, work with, or innovate within sluggish or intractable organizations, as well as with inhospitable communities or societies, will remember you.
Pray in the way that Jesus taught his disciples–truthfully and with humility–so that those who struggle for justice, peace, and transformation, will remember you.
Above all, learn how to live well finally with others, with integrity, and without arrogance or pretension, so that those who seek to heed God’s call will remember, not us, but the faith, hope, and love of Jesus Christ—glimpses of which they might catch from us.
NOTE: We have reposted Dr Ruiz’s article with his permission.
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