How to Be a Renegade Do-Gooders

When I worked in the nonprofit sector, I learned how hard it can be to do good things in this world. I advocated for arts and environmental education for kids without family wealth; not exactly at the top of many charitable giving lists! However, I found it was possible to raise money, recruit volunteers, and create and expand programming by looking for cracks in our capitalistic system. In community with other renegade do-gooders, I was able to participate in work that valued human potential above greed.

Nonprofit work was meaningful, and it evolved into a call to chaplaincy as my new career. At some point, I realized I needed a new angle with which to see and serve the human condition. After serving mission-driven charities, I required a fresh start to be a reengage do-gooder. Now, in community with dedicated medical staff, I am learning more about how to hold the line for kindness and generosity in this world gone mad with violence and indifference. The nurses, environmental service techs, operators, baristas, PTs, dieticians, and CNAs show me every day how to be a better person. They don’t say a word about their service- they simply serve.

Synthesizing what others have taught me, and what I figured out the hard way, I have come up with some suggestions for the aspiring renegade do-gooder:

1.     Believe that it can be done. This is the first and most important step. Contrary to the rhetoric of people who have given up, the Light of Consciousness (Kindness/Generosity/Justice/Grace) is more powerful than darkness. Believe it.

2.     Find other people doing the good work. Communities with a shared vision of a better, more equitable and healthier world can and do achieve astonishing things.

3.     Find a balance between self-care and self-giving. When we fall in love with helping others and supporting righteous causes, we can lose ourselves. Humans break down in body and spirit when we give more energy than we have. When we begin to feel overwhelmed, we need to take a break.

4.     Find your spiritual connection. Let your spirituality, however you express it, be the ground from which you serve the world. When we develop and care for our spirituality, we have a solid foundation for coping with the hard stuff.

I know the world is dark and there is needless conflict. One wonders sometimes if humans are capable becoming an evolved species. However, when times are the bleakest, this is when we must be unrelenting in seeking justice and peace. Being a renegade do-gooder means refusing to give in when others submit to indifference and selfishness.  

Become fearlessly loving. Persevere.