Illich, Remen & Calderon

Illich

“I do have deep faith in the enormous good will of the U.S. volunteer. However, his good faith can usually be explained only by an abysmal lack of intuitive delicacy. By definition, you cannot help being ultimately vacationing salesmen for the middle-class “American Way of Life,” since that is really the only life you know.”(2)

“You come from a country which industrialized early and which succeeded in incorporating the great majority of its citizens into the middle classes. It is no social distinction in the U.S. to have graduated from the second year of college. Indeed, most Americans now do. Anybody in this country who did not finish high school is considered underprivileged.”(4)

“I am here to suggest that you voluntarily renounce exercising the power which being an American gives you. I am here to entreat you to freely, consciously and humbly give up the legal right you have to impose your benevolence on Mexico. I am here to challenge you to recognize your inability, your powerlessness and your incapacity to do the “good” which you intended to do.”(5)

Remen

“Service rests on the premise that the nature of life is sacred, that life is a holy mystery which has an unknown purpose. When we serve, we know that we belong to life and to that purpose. From the perspective of service, we are all connected: All suffering is like my suffering and all joy is like my joy. The impulse to serve emerges naturally and inevitably from this way of seeing.”(1)

“Serving makes us aware of our wholeness and its power. The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in others and the wholeness in life. The wholeness in you is the same as the wholeness in me. Service is a relationship between equals: our service strengthens us as well as others. Fixing and helping are draining, and over time we may burn out, but service is renewing.”(1)

“Service is not an experience of strength or expertise; service is an experience of mystery, surrender and awe. Helpers and fixers feel causal. Servers may experience from time to time a sense of being used by larger unknown forces. Those who serve have traded a sense of mastery for an experience of mystery, and in doing so have transformed their work and their lives into practice.”

Calderon

“As my experience shows, the ability to communicate one’s perspective affects one’s ability to participate in society, and with it, one’s access to power. Certain individuals or groups have the power to define dominant culture, and therefore the power to oppress or liberate others. Power exists in language, too, where words create a foundation for understanding”

“Ironically if it had not been for the experience of racism and prejudice, he may have been just another successful lawyer who had made a lot of money. But because of prejudice in Southern Africa, he was subjected to humiliation within a week of his arrival.”

“Ultimately, perspective-taking cannot occur without addressing questions of power. But academia can follow emerging trends and break down structures that separate it from the larger community.”