"The MDGs -- A Vehicle For The Practical Idealist" -- by Dr. John Hammock

For EGR the work on promoting the Millennium Development Goals is as much about promoting personal transformation as it is about promoting the eight goals of the MDGs. The EGR mission calls us to conversion, to root our work with the MDGs squarely on our faith as Christians. This is why we want to build a movement, not just promote a series of projects overseas. Yes, it is important to help alleviate poverty and suffering overseas. Yes, it is important for our Bishops to march in London to lift up the MDGs. But it is equally important for each of us to pray, study, give and act—to make our personal journey intersect with the work of the MDGs. Please see EGRs mission on our website. Also check out our Rule of Life that incorporates these action-steps.

In today’s blog I want to share a personal story. It is from before the MDG campaign. I share it because for me the struggle to balance social activism and my personal life has been a constant one. As we build our movement we need to be sensitive to where each of us is—and realize that personal transformation and conversion does not mean that we will all be alike or be at the same place. In our faith or in our actions we need to celebrate our differences and realize that each person is on her own journey. I share one experience of mine in the hope that it may resonate with others.

In 1979, I was going through a particularly difficult personal time, struggling with the trade-offs between social activism to eradicate poverty and living a middle class family life in suburban America. I wanted to do both, but I felt that I was constantly compromising my goals of social justice. At one point I went to speak about my dilemma with the minister of the church I was attending. He was an older man with years of experience in a variety of parishes in the United States. He listened intently to my dilemma. He had one, and only one, piece of advice. He said, “John, God is not found only among the poor or behind an outhouse. God is everywhere. God is in relationships. Believe it or not, God is also with the rich.”

My values, my politics and my God had been firmly entrenched in solidarity with the oppressed and the impoverished. I tried to hear the pastor’s words. It has taken me almost a lifetime to understand the deep meaning and validity of those words. For me idealism and social activism are focused primarily on liberating the impoverished from oppression. It seems to me so clear that as long as people are impoverished, all human beings are diminished. But meaning is not only found in working with the impoverished. Meaning can be found in working with the rich, in battling for causes that do not directly relate to the impoverished—the environment, population explosion, the preservation of land and of other species on this planet, the fight for clean and fair elections, the rights of immigrants and labor--the list of possibilities is endless. Practical idealism screams out at us to get involved to further the values of a humane world.

But my pastor friend was going beyond that. He was also insisting that God is found in relationships, that meaning can be found outside of social activism and outside idealistic action to change the world. I have learned over time to take the time for myself for meditation, prayer, silent retreats. These are not self indulgence; they are fuel for the on-going work. And yes, I do believe that God is also found in relationships. They take time and yet, it is in these close personal connections that we learn to trust, that we find a way to express our faith and love.

However, for me, a life just focused on personal relationships or personal transformation is not enough. With the rampant injustice in this world, with the oppression of the poor, with the destruction of the environment, with the imperfect economic and political systems under which we live, with the issues that bombard our senses every day, it seems to me a cop out to pretend that none of this exists and to only value our own journey and our personal relationships. Of course, it is important to take care of oneself. It is important to have meaningful relationships. But it is equally important to be involved in social, economic and political issues to improve our society. Practical idealism calls for involvement, for some level of commitment to social action.

I have just finished a book to be distributed next month by Harvard University Press. In it my co-authors and I lay out some ideas on how to live as a practical idealist in today’s world. Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid does not provide a magic bullet, but it does show that it is possible to combine personal transformation and social change. The MDGs are one clear manifestation of pragmatic achievable goals. They cannot be reached just through technology and the work of experts. Rather they will be reached if enough people work to combine social change with their personal transformation. For those of us who are Christian this transformation is grounded in our faith. The MDGs thus become an excellent vehicle for linking the need for social change with a balanced, meaningful, dedicated life, fueled by our faith in a living God. This is a theme for global reconciliation among Episcopalians, among Christians.

Dr. John Hammock is an associate professor of public policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy & The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He is currently on leave until September, 2008 and working Sabina Alkire as a senior research associate at the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, John was the Executive Director at Oxfam America from 1984-1995 and Executive Director at ACCION International from 1973-1980. He is the president of the board of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation.