[Community-Service] A quote and some thoughts.

[Darian Smith]

“Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you”  
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
   I saw this quote and wanted to share it with the list. 
I was reflecting on the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as well as  what seems like a generation of leaders that have paved the way for each of us.
People who fought for what they believed in, and did this for the benefit of others. Transformative forces in our history.  People such as John Lewis who fought for the civil rights of black people and others of color. Ruth Bader Ginsburg who fought   for the rights of women and stood for gender equality on the whole.
These are examples of  people believing in a cause  and making it matter to others, this is an example of service and leadership, and to me the most admirable kind.

Justice Ginsburg’s quote serves as a reminder to  all of us, particularly us in this division that if we believe in a cause strongly enough to fight for it, that we  have to make it worth fighting for in the minds of others.  For us, this means that we should always remember that the work of our division  is best accomplished, not with a select few, but with a great many.
We in the CSD are a part of the NFB and our work as a division is to serve the greater goals of the       organized blind  movement of the National Federation of the Blind.

I know  that amongst the quotes and links it can be easy to  lose sight of the ultimate reason as to our coming together, but I hope we take time today and anytime we  share something on the list, or come together on a call  or in person  to remind ourselves that our work in this  division, and everywhere  else in our organization should always come back to furthering our collective work and sharing our collective philosophy.
In the National Federation of the Blind we seek equal treatment in society and under the law and  we expect equal treatment of all our members as a matter of course. 
Equal treatment in society means equal responsibility in making our country and community better in all  the ways we can, not letting those who don’t know what we can do in society tell us what we can do.  Our division is not just about community service on it’s own but about how we as blind people can participate in serving our communities. 
Equal treatment of each other  means understanding that each of us our valuable and we need  each other in order to truly do the things we have set out to do in our division. 
 We are here to ask  the questions, seek the encouragement, and  raise the expectations  of blind people one service activity at a time.  We in this division need each other to achieve that goal. We need our membership to set the direction and our leadership to help us move  in that direction. And our division needs our larger organization to help guide us as we march towards freedom. 
We are the generation that picks up where those great generations have left off, we are the ones that  change the narrative and we can only do it together.
 Let’s get involved in building the National Federation of the Blind.

 Best,
  Darian