Photos courtesy of Tara Brooks
In the middle of my time with these students, Crystal McLaughlin, the current head of the Bonner program, came by to ask if I would lead Bonner that night. I didn’t even know where to start. How do I begin to explain to students how passionate I am about social justice in a way that also inspires them? I am already leading two meetings in a two hour period, do I want to add a third one? These students see social justice weekly at their placement, do they really want to talk about it with me? What could I say after MLK Day of Service that would remotely make a difference? Then it hit me—this is not about me. Nothing I do is about me. I have always dreamed of making a difference, and here I am. It’s time to step up and answer that call. In the LEAD Team meeting that night, I found a group of students brainstorming on how to create the best possible workshops for their peers. Their dream is to help friends and peers reach their full potential. After that, I headed over to meet with Oxford Fellowship, where we started a Bible study on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together. These students dream of a community strong enough to feel God’s presence together or apart, a community excited to love and serve the world, a community not afraid to take a stand for social justice. Right after the meeting, I walked across the quad to the Bonner Leader meeting. I headed into the conference room and sat down in the back. When it was my turn, I started to go through what I prepared.
I realized something was missing. I asked Crystal if she could get me some paper. I passed it out and said, “Now I want to know about you. If you were to make a speech with the world listening, a speech that could reshape our entire understanding of what is good and just, what would you talk about?” One environmental science major drew a picture of her dream: to see a world full of plants and animals that are healthy and happy in order to teach whole communities how to be healthy and happy. Another student dreamed about a day where universal healthcare would be enacted, listing all of the benefits for the poor and disinherited. One male student brought tears to my eyes when he said that his dream was for a world free of sexism, a world where the women in his life, who often feel inadequate, find new life. Out of all of the issues these students could choose, out of all of the things that affect them directly, they wrote about dreams they had for the world, many of which would not directly benefit themselves in the same way as it would other people. These dreams were for the people who live disenfranchised. While listening to these students pour their hearts out to one another, I thought, “What is my social justice dream?” I have a lot of them, many of which they named. But then I realized that perhaps my dream was taking place as I was sitting there. My dream is to inspire college students to figure out their social justice dreams and fight for them. My dream is for students to not just talk about the future, but create it. My dream is to be a part of making the world better by teaching students to dream bigger. So what’s my big dream? I guess if you really look at it, my big dream is to live out my sophomore superlative, “Most Likely to Work at Oxford in 10 Years.” Lucky for me, I am doing just that.