… and it bends toward justice
The arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends toward access.
Twelve years ago, Acumen made a modest investment in Water Health International, a start-up that builds water purification hubs in small villages in India. Today, and every single day, 7,000,000 people have clean water as a result.
… and it bends toward dignity.
Sixty years ago, it was still against the law for blacks and whites to get married in parts of the USA. And just five years ago, the same was true for gay couples
… and it bends toward healing.
Catherine Hoke’s team at Defy brings hope and high expectations to the incarcerated and those recently released. As a result, the rate of recidivism falls more dramatically than anyone expects.
… and it bends toward community.
Jim Ziolkowski could have stayed in his secure job at General Electric. But instead, he went to Malawi and then Chicago and then to high schools in towns like yours. His work at BuildOn has transformed tens of thousands of students, executives and communities.
… and it bends toward helping the dispossessed.
Lexi Shereshewsky saw the Syrian refugee crisis firsthand. And so she started the Syria Fund, which, while still small in scale, is mighty in impact.
… and it bends toward diversity.
Willie Jackson couldn’t find a magazine that spoke to him and to his generation. So he started one.
… and it bends toward responsibility.
We’re not pawns if we choose not to be. This is not the work for someone else. No one else is doing it for us. With us, perhaps, and as an example for what we can do, but we’re not off the hook.
History doesn’t bend itself. But we can bend it.
It’s taken us 100,000 years to figure out that we are only as well off as the weakest ones in our tribe, and that connection and community and respect lead to a world that benefits everyone.
The irony of Dr. King’s holiday is that he surely believed that anyone could take on this calling, that anyone could organize, speak up and stand for justice.
We can connect, we can publish, we can lead. Anyone reading this has the ability to care, and to do something about it. We have more power than we dare imagine.
And so it bends.