On February 22, the sun shone, the earth spun, and students told amazing stories of educational opportunity as a part of National TRIO Day. As I sat in my chair and listened contently, all seemed right with the world.
There are many reasons why I feel privileged to work with TRIO students at Community College of Denver. Moments such as TRIO Day or graduation or a student rescuing a failing grade allow me a part of their success, a feeling that how I choose to spend my days makes a difference in the lives of the individuals and communities surrounding me.
Yet, as I sat there, I sensed something more, something deeper, something beyond my role in things.
Justice: what it is depends on who you ask. I have considered Plato; I have googled Rawls; I have read of it rolling down like waters in an ever-flowing stream; and it is the best word I can come up with to describe what was before me on TRIO Day, producing alpenglow on my soul.
Justice, to me, is the freedom to become who we are.
There is much in this world working against justice: poverty, exploitation, greed, conformity, anthropocentrism. These shackle the potential of the kid down the street who has no mentors, the teenager being bullied because of his sexual orientation, the forest on the mountain slope being strip mined.
The arc of history is long, they say, yet it bends toward justice. As a society and as individuals, we progress - in fits and stops - toward ways of relating more in harmony with the rights of the other to become. The universe, it seems, evolves in creative and beautiful struggle.
There are the days, the moments, when justice takes shape before us, resolute. The day that the sun shines, the earth spins, and the student, regardless of the circumstances of her life, has equal opportunity to become who she is.
As professionals at a community college, we are the vanguard forging the path of justice for individuals seeking educational opportunity. And as I listened contently, I could do little but smile - to have such a privilege, to witness the ever-flowing stream.
