...speaking in public...

It is so nice to see everyone here tonight for our graduation.  I want to start with a big thank you to Ollie and everyone who helped make our month long CASA training possible, including the cateror.  When Ollie asked me to speak for 3-5 minutes tonight I immediatly thought the most appropriate topic for that time frame was how I believed we could change the world.

So now that I am on my soapbox and you are my relatively captive audience, here is how I believe we can change the world as CASA volunteers.

To begin I want to tell you what I see as broken in our world, which is an overwhelming sense of disconnection.  We all seek connection in the world, to eachother, to something larger than ourselve, to the earth.  In contrast a flesh eating bacteria in our communities is an inability to connect in any meaningful way.

In our work with casa we begin with the seed of simply helping a child, which we can then cultivate into our own increasing self awareness, and in time this will permiate the community around us naturally, as a change agent.

I see our work at its most basic level as fostering a small connection with a child.  We take that seed of helping a child, and we do it objectively, with no personal investment which I see as a relatively selfless act.  We all came here for a reason but I do believe it is a relatively selfless act.  However, from this selfless act we begin to help ourselves by learning about how we interact interpersonally, within our communities, and intrapersonally, when we learn to recognize our own internal reactions, judgements, and prejudices.  When we begin this process of self discovery we become more able to live a life where we can choose and make decisions rather than just react to situations.  Finally, this personal growth permiates our communities as we model our own growth and approach to life within our communy which can  in turn change the world.

To end I just want to say that I think it is so easy and at times it feels natural to ignore something ugly by simply turning away.  But we have all made a decision in volunteering for CASA to turn towards something ugly and try to change it.  The more that we make this decision to turn towards, the more those around us both cannot ignore what is happening (at least as easily) and may perhaps find their own courage or motivation to step up and make their own change in the world.

Thank you all for listening to how I think, as CASA volunteers, we will change the world.


 

Words by Lucy Delaney for Fulton County CASA Graduation November 17, 2010.