what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” I hope you enjoy this edition of VYT Voices. Cara Melbourne VYT VISTA Leader Dear Readers, Since the last edition of VYT Voices, the Vermont Youth Tomorrow A*VISTA members have been building capacity if their communities to address the effects of poverty. One project has been coordinating and participating in service projects to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The MLK Day of Service is the President’s national call to service initiative which in- vites Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems. VYT members coordinated and participated in the follow- ing projects: Members in central Ver- mont participated in sev- eral service projects in Barre, followed by a com- munity lunch, documen- tary showing and poetry workshop. Members in Chittenden county participated in citywide service projects around Essex Junction and Burlington, as well as a community dinner at Es- sex CHIPS. Members in Brattleboro digitized photos for the Brattleboro Historical Society. Members in Bennington participated in city wide service projects with the Bennington Coalition for the Homeless, the First Baptist Church, and Meals on Wheels. Members serving in South Burlington prepared a meal for residents of the Ronald McDonald House. Members in White River Junction made hats to be distributed at The Haven (a homeless shelter). Members in Londonderry hosted a day of youth ac- tivities, focusing on civic engagement and commu- nity service. In this issue of VYT Voices, members were asked to choose from a set of Dr. King quotes and discuss how it re- lates to their service, what they choose to do on Dr. King day, their efforts to alleviate poverty, or how they live their lives. The quotes they could choose from are: “Whatever affects one directly affects all indi- rectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are VYT VISTAs Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. with Service Vermont Youth Tomorrow AmeriCorps VISTA Program Volume 11, Issue 2 VYT Voices Ryan Stratton 2 Lillian Shields 3 Sarah Rice 4 Rachel Mason 5 Molly Humphrey 6 Ali Siegel 6 Emily Bridges 7 Kate Piniewski 7 Casey Willard 8 Anna Finklestein 8 Drew DeVitis 9 Valerie Woodhouse 9 Katherine Trahan 10 Tony Zambito 10 Jahnine Spaulding 11 Alaina Wermers 12 Jenny Montagne 12 Jenna Geery 13 Jenny Peterson 13 Inside this Issue:
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Transcript
what you ought to be.
This is the interrelated
structure of reality
“All labor that uplifts
humanity has dignity and
importance and should
be undertaken with
painstaking excellence.”
“Faith is taking the first
step even when you
don’t see the whole
staircase.”
I hope you enjoy this edition
of VYT Voices.
Cara Melbourne
VYT VISTA Leader
Dear Readers,
Since the last edition of VYT
Voices, the Vermont Youth
Tomorrow A*VISTA members
have been building capacity if
their communities to address
the effects of poverty. One
project has been coordinating
and participating in service
projects to honor the legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day. The MLK Day of Service
is the President’s national call
to service initiative which in-
vites Americans from all walks
of life to work together to
provide solutions to our most
pressing national problems.
VYT members coordinated
and participated in the follow-
ing projects:
Members in central Ver-
mont participated in sev-
eral service projects in
Barre, followed by a com-
munity lunch, documen-
tary showing and poetry
workshop.
Members in Chittenden
county participated in
citywide service projects
around Essex Junction and
Burlington, as well as a
community dinner at Es-
sex CHIPS.
Members in Brattleboro
digitized photos for the
Brattleboro Historical
Society.
Members in Bennington
participated in city wide
service projects with the
Bennington Coalition for
the Homeless, the First
Baptist Church, and
Meals on Wheels.
Members serving in South
Burlington prepared a
meal for residents of the
Ronald McDonald House.
Members in White River
Junction made hats to be
distributed at The Haven
(a homeless shelter).
Members in Londonderry
hosted a day of youth ac-
tivities, focusing on civic
engagement and commu-
nity service.
In this issue of VYT Voices,
members were asked to
choose from a set of Dr. King
quotes and discuss how it re-
lates to their service, what
they choose to do on Dr. King
day, their efforts to alleviate
poverty, or how they live their
lives. The quotes they could
choose from are:
“Whatever affects one
directly affects all indi-
rectly. I can never be what
I ought to be until you are
VYT VISTAs Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. with Service
Vermont Youth Tomorrow AmeriCorps VISTA Program Volume 11, Issue 2
VYT Voices Ryan Stratton 2
Lillian Shields 3
Sarah Rice 4
Rachel Mason 5
Molly Humphrey 6
Ali Siegel 6
Emily Bridges 7
Kate Piniewski 7
Casey Willard 8
Anna Finklestein 8
Drew DeVitis 9
Valerie Woodhouse 9
Katherine Trahan 10
Tony Zambito 10
Jahnine Spaulding 11
Alaina Wermers 12
Jenny Montagne 12
Jenna Geery 13
Jenny Peterson 13
Inside this Issue:
Page 2
VYT Voices
"Whatever affects one directly,
affects all indirectly. I can never be
what I ought to be until you are
what you ought to be. This is the
interrelated structure of reality.”
—Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
On the Positivity of Kodachrome
Many before Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. have attempted to explain
the “interrelated structure of real-
ity” through a variety of medi-
ums—in chaos theory, there’s Ed-
ward Lorenz’s “butterfly effect”; in
literature, there’s Henry David
Thoreau’s Walden; in music,
there’s John Cage’s 4’33”. These
are only a few examples. Dr. King
is getting at the same idea, though:
that we are not merely observers,
we are participants, whether we
intend to be or not. His angle of
approach—the social aspect of
cause/effect and interrelation—is
perhaps the most
directly applica-
ble to everyday
life. Because of
the complicated
systems of soci-
ety and power,
everyone is af-
fected by the
actions of every-
one else. Of
course, there is
an entire spec-
trum of effect,
but, especially
en masse, these
actions have
significant and real consequences.
Without context, it’s difficult to
know what Dr. King means ex-
actly by “whatever affects one
directly, affects all indirectly.” I
imagine that he means to empha-
size that even the small things—
attitude, simple gestures, inten-
tion—affect a community. Even
if the action is, say, leaving a
piece of litter on the ground, the
effect can be its contribution to a
general attitude about the inten-
tionality of a community. Per-
haps someone seeing that piece
of litter, among all the other
pieces, will be less inclined to
care for her or his community.
Of course, this is just a negative
example; surely a positive exam-
ple would apply, as well.
This mindset is, generally, what I
try to maintain when I take any
and all action. It affects how I go
about my service as an AmeriCorps
VISTA and what I chose to do during
my Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of
Service. Volunteering at the Brattle-
boro Historical Society by digitizing
old Kodachrome slides was not only
an activity that I enjoyed doing and
used specific skills that I could offer, it
was an opportunity to make these ar-
chives more accessible to the commu-
nity. One of these slides of billboards
in Vermont during World War II had
the potential to do more than provide
historical documentation; seeing it
could interest someone in the histori-
cal context of their community, get
them thinking about the current state
of their community, and generally
create a more positive attitude. Per-
haps this is an aspect of what Dr. King
was getting at.
Ryan Stratton VYT A*VISTA member
serving at In-Sight Photography (Brattleboro, VT)
“I imagine that
he means to
emphasize that
even the small
things—attitude,
simple gestures,
intention—affect
a community.”
Photo taken by Lewis R. Brown and is catalogued at the Brattleboro Historical
Society
Page 3
"Whatever affects one directly, af-
fects all indirectly. I can never be
what I ought to be until you are what
you ought to be. This is the interre-
lated structure of reality."
“You don’t know what it’s like,” he
mumbled under his breath, picking
up his tired Jansport backpack and
tape-repaired Dixie cup off my desk
and walked out the door into the hot
Arizonan sun. Every day my desk
calendar showed an uninterrupted
stream of appointments. Appoint-
ments made for homeless men seek-
ing employment while addressing
their mental health or substance
abuse challenges. Men whom I felt I
could not connect with or counsel
because I had not lived their lives. I
chronicled the experiences had by my
clients that I could not relate to. I be-
gan with “homeless”; I have never
been homeless. I followed
“homelessness”
with nouns like:
“meth-user,”
“Vietnam-
veteran,” “baby-
boomer,”
“man.” The last
differing factor
on my list
stopped both my
tired hand and
rushing brain. I
reviewed my list
further and real-
ized that I could
also never be a
Vietnam veteran or any other equating
factor I had listed.
Recognizing that what I am not, by
birth, gender, education, or experi-
ence is unrelentingly rewarding for
my practice and self. Responding,
“You’re right” to the statement “you
don’t know what it’s like” has given
me the opportunity to be a more ob-
jective listener, to provide more indi-
vidualized service and to advocate
for increased client participation in
policy development.
For the Martin Luther King, Jr.
AmeriCorps Day of Service I worked
with other members of AmeriCorps
VISTA in both the Vermont Youth
Tomorrow and SerVermont organiza-
tions. We made dinner and dessert
for the families staying at the Ronald
McDonald House in Burlington, Ver-
mont while their loved ones receive
medical treatment away from their
hometowns. I too spent many of my
childhood years receiving treatment
for cancerous growths and without
the help of my family my recovery
would have undoubtedly been much
longer and far less endurable. As
with my work with children in foster
care during this AmeriCorps year and
my previous work with homeless men,
I did not know what each family is feel-
ing, experiencing or battling at the
Ronald McDonald House, despite my
own battle with cancer.
It is both the simi-
larities and the
uniqueness of our
experiences and
human beings that
emboldens me to be
deliberate about the
inclusion of foster
youth’s voices in
the Vermont De-
partment for Chil-
dren and Families, Fam-
ily Services Division
policies. Vermont youth are those that
the policy and practice guidance out-
puts will affect. Without their input,
policies will not address the nuances
found only in “knowing what it is like.”
As I have found in my work in Tucson,
Arizona in AmeriCorps VISTA at the
Vermont Department for Children and
Families and even at the Ronald
McDonald House for the Martin Luther
King AmerCorps Day of Service, the
populations I serve may change but the
infinitely crucial driving voice of these
individuals will continue to form my
practice and inform my work. I may
one day carry a tired Jansport backpack
and carry a tape-repaired Dixie cup but
I will still approach my practice with
the internal driving phrase, “I will
never know what it is like to be you, so
tell me.”
VYT and SerVermont members stand in front of the meal the pre-
pared for families at the Ronald McDonald House.
“Responding
“You’re right” to
the statement
“you don’t know
what it’s like”
has given me the
opportunity to be
a more objective
listener…”
Lillian Shields VYT A*VISTA member serving at
Vermont Department for Children and Families, Family Services (Essex, VT)
Volume 11, Issue 2
Page 4
VYT Voices
"“Faith is taking the first step
even when you don't see the whole
staircase."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I recently read an Audrey
Niffenegger short story about a
Night Bookmobile: a mystical
travelling library that holds, for
each person it visits, a collection
of all the books read by that indi-
vidual over the course of his or
her life. The librarians watch their
patrons’ collections change and
grow as the patrons grow as read-
ers, their materials developing
from Dr. Seuss to Dickens
(inevitably assigned for one class
or another) to Shakespeare or Mi-
lan Kundera or, as the case may
be, Danielle Steel. I envy those
fictional librarians.
At the (very real) Bookmobile
where I serve as a VISTA, I work
mainly with kids between the ages
of birth and eight. The youngest
are mostly interested in chewing
the books their caretakers check
out for them; the oldest have begun
to develop an identity as readers.
They have an idea of what they
like: a beloved series, a favorite
genre. I imagine their personal
Night Bookmobiles filling slowly
up, the collection growing as they
read and faltering when they do
not, the books getting longer as
text takes the place of pictures. I
want there to be a dramatic in-
crease in the stock of books in their
collection during the months that
those kids know me. I want that
surge of reading to continue as they
grow up. But I will never know if
that is the case.
Reading to a child is a simple
thing. It is not a sweeping change
in regulations or the institution of a
new anti-poverty plan. It
is a one-on-one means of
giving children access to
literacy and to a love of
reading; yet, through that,
it gives kids the potential
to succeed educationally
and to transcend poverty.
Research shows that
reading aloud to children
improves their academic per-
formance, but in my year of
service, I will likely not see such
long-term results.
I have to trust in statistics, in my ser-
vice site, and in the kids themselves
that what I do will grow into some-
thing bigger, something that can
change a life. "Faith is taking the first
step,” said Martin Luther King, Jr.,
“even when you don't see the whole
staircase." What I do each day at the
Bookmobile is take the first step.
Believing in the kids that I work with
and in the power of books allows me
to have faith that the work I do will
have a positive impact on my com-
munity and will, even if I never see
the results firsthand, help kids to
thrive educationally by sharing the
magic of reading with them.
Sarah Rice VYT A*VISTA member
serving at the Franklin Grand-Isle Bookmobile (Swanton, VT)
A youth participating in the Bookmobile's
stuffed animal library sleepover.
(Left to Right) Sarah (VYT), Ellen (VYDC
AmeriCorps State), and Katherine (VYT) all
serve at the Bookmobile.
Page 5
"Whatever affects one directly, af-
fects all indirectly. I can never be
what I ought to be until you are
what you ought to be. This is the
interrelated structure of reality."
Milk. You pour it over cereal, you
put it in your coffee, or maybe you
like it straight. Before my Ameri-
Corps VISTA year, I wasn’t mindful
about milk. And then I began to
work with migrant dairy farmers in
Vermont. The first few times I went
to teach English with migrant farm-
workers, I felt a real heaviness after-
ward. I used milk everyday. But I
didn’t think about the people who
were milking cows at 3am forty
min-
utes
from
my
house, when I was asleep. I didn’t
think about the humanness that went
into putting a carton of milk on my
table. Who milked the cows for this
carton? What are their stories? Are
they treated with dignity and respect
in their work? What
are they sacrificing to
support their families?
Maybe I had avoided
really examining the
human stories, because
it was uncomfortable.
The sense of heaviness
I felt after leaving
farms was also shame.
I felt ashamed that I
consumed things without
thinking about the people behind
the labor. Maybe I had thought
about it in a surface, intellectual
way, but not with my heart. I had
studied food justice in college. I
felt like I was “socially conscious”
about food.
But I had
never played
pick-up soc-
cer on Satur-
days with
migrant farm
workers, or
cooked and
shared a
meal to-
gether. I had never sat at a kitchen
table with a migrant youth, and
looked at photos of his home town
on a mountain lake, and listened to
his plans about building a library
there one day. As I build relation-
ships with students, the inequality in
our interconnected human web trou-
bles me more from my heart than
my head. Why is a sixteen year old
milking cows at 3am-11am to sup-
port his family, when another stu-
dent down the road sits in a high
school AP Physics class? Why am I
living in a warm, safe apartment,
when some farm workers an hour
away live without heat or clean,
running water? My experience with
VISTA has pushed me to answer
these hard questions, in order to find
solutions. However, I feel that in
order to alleviate poverty, we have
to begin with embracing both the
beautiful and difficult parts of our
interconnectedness.
Rachel Mason VYT A*VISTA member serving at
UVM Extension-Migrant Education Program (Berlin, VT)
Volunteer and migrant worker youth practicing English.
Volume 11, Issue 2
Molly and Aidan make placemats for Barre’s MLK
Day community lunch
Page 6
Molly Humphrey VYT A*VISTA member
Serving at Vermont Youth Development Committee (Montpelier, VT)
When I think of Dr. King’s quote,
"Whatever affects one directly, affects
all indirectly. I can never be what I
ought to be until you are what you
ought to be. This is the interrelated
structure of reality," I think of my role
as a mother.
Being a mother is the hardest and most
thankless job I know, but on my Na-
tional Day of service, I felt my role as
a mom and a VISTA service member
was especially important. Reading to
my son, Aidan, Martin’s Big Words by
Doreen Rappaport, reminded me of
the importance of service. I want my
son to grow up not just speaking about
the importance of serving others and
of social justice, but also to witness it
and to practice it in his daily life. I feel
that by teaching Aidan to care for the
welfare of others, he will become a
more fulfilled and a more successful
human being. And in turn, I feel
more fulfilled as a mother and a
VISTA member by introducing
someone else to service.
My National Day of Service was a
great opportunity to not only allow
me to serve a community in need,
but also gave me the chance to
spend time showing Aidan the kinds
of values I hope to instill in him. As
a mom, I am always telling Aidan to
be kind, to cooperate with his peers,
and to be helpful, so I am thankful I
got to show him what those values
look like.
Service is not a glamorous job by
any means, but on that day, with
Aidan sitting in lap, I knew I was doing
something to help foster a sense of re-
sponsibility to others in a young person.
Aidan may be too young to understand
who Martin Luther King, Jr. was, but I
know that Dr. King’s legacy of love can
never start too soon.
support helps the whole program be the
best it can be. When I work with the co-
chairs of the Green Mountain College
and Bennington College Local Pro-
grams, I support them directly, and indi-rectly support the rest of the mentors
and their programs. In turn, their success
provides a positive impact on the com-
munities they serve.
Part of what makes DREAM unique is
the sense that the youth, their families,
mentors and staff members come to-
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said
"Whatever affects one directly, affects
all indirectly. I can never be what I
ought to be until you are what you
ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality." Dr. King’s words
resonated with me as I considered my
service with DREAM and my role as
a Program Empowerment VISTA. In
particular, I thought about the word
“community” and how Dr. King’s
statement seems to provide a defini-
tion. A community is a group of inter-
related people, within which, as Dr.
King said, what affects one affects all.
DREAM’s mission is to “build com-
munities of families and college stu-
dents that empower youth from af-
fordable housing neighborhoods to
recognize their options, make in-
formed decisions, and achieve their
dreams.” Each program is its own
community, and the individuals within
that community are interrelated. As a
Program Empowerment VISTA, my
role is to support the mentors, and that
gether to form the DREAM commu-
nity. Parents see our DREAM t-shirts
and know they can trust us. Even as
their mentors graduate, youth remain
a part of the DREAM community. Mentors feel connected to each other
as well as to the mentees and their
families. DREAM is dependent on
each member doing what is expected
of him or her. A Local Program is
successful when mentees can count on
their mentors, when mentors can
count on support from staff, when
each member feels ownership and
sees value in the community’s suc-
cess.
Through my service, I have realized
just how powerful DREAM is and
how successful it can be when every-
one comes together. When the youth,
families, and mentors are all what
they ought to be, DREAM is effective
and accomplishes its mission of build-
ing communities and empowering
youth to dream big.
Ali Siegel VYT A*VISTA member
Serving at the DREAM Program (Bennington, VT)
DREAM VISTA members and staff at a mentor
retreat
VYT Voices
Creating a service project that would
properly commemorate the life of Mar-
tin Luther King, Jr. was no simple en-
deavor. I initially thought large and
wanted an event that would be momen-
tous, life-changing, and newsworthy!
After brainstorming ideas, I acknowl-
edged the immense impact of massive
events, but knew I had to keep it small
– there are few AmeriCorps members
in my area and most were already sanc-
tioned to their own respective events.
So, I set about planning an event that
would be beneficial, yet easily imple-
mented by a small number of people.
The cold grips of winter gave me my
initial idea; winter clothing is a neces-
sity in New England, but I realized that
many in the Upper Valley Community
I serve may be unable to afford even
the basic necessities to keep warm.
Thus, the idea to produce and distrib-
uted a variety of winter hats presented
itself.
With the go ahead from my supervisor,
I enlisted the help of the youth at the
teen center to sew and/or crochet the
hats. Though hesitant at first, the ones
who decided to give it a try came out
feeling accomplished of their product
and educated in a new skill! Over the
course of two weeks, almost 30 hats
were produced – either by crocheting or
sewing. On MLK Day, I posted myself
at The Haven, a non-profit organization
providing food, shelter, clothes, and edu-
cational programming to those in need,
and handed out a majority of the hats to
the Haven’s clients. The rest were do-
nated to the Haven’s clothing collection
and will hopefully go to many more indi-
viduals in the future.
I was initially a bit intimidated when I
compared the scope of my project to the
larger projects of my fellow VISTAs, but
I quickly realized there was merit in
both. Anything I can do, whether it is
earth-
shattering
or micro-
scopic, to
help the
community I serve is
certainly something
of importance.
Though the quantity of hats was small,
the love and care that went into making
each individual one was enormous. I’m
hoping that Martin Luther King, Jr.
might think my idea was pretty rad, he
might even give me a high five, or say
that, "All labor that uplifts humanity
has dignity and importance and should
be undertaken with painstaking excel-
lence." I’d nod in agreement, confident
that my project, in some small way, is
congruent with his words.
Emily Bridges VYT A*VISTA member
serving at The Junction Teen Center (White River Junction, VT)
year.
In a similar, but perhaps more eloquent,
sentence than what I heard growing up
from my dad, Martin Luther King, Jr.
said, “All labor that uplifts humanity
has dignity and importance and should
be undertaken with painstaking excel-
lence.” This quote directly correlates to
the VISTA mission of working with
passion and energy. As AmeriCorps
VISTAs serving through Vermont
Youth Tomorrow we strive to create
positive change in our communities, act
as resources, and support those around
us as best we can. This sometimes in-
cludes the less fulfilling tasks of grant
writing, database management, and
public relations. But then we experi-
ence moments with visible success:
when a teenage girl living in low-
“You could do something right, or you
could do something twice.” This sen-
tence is one I heard repeatedly from my
dad, who I always thought of as some-
what of a perfectionist. But now, as an
old and wise 22-year-old, I now realize
that he may have known what he was
talking
about. His
philoso-
phy of
working
hard and
diligently
at every
daily task
resonates
with me
each day
of my
service
income housing who is accepted to an
acclaimed four-year university or a 10-
year-old boy who shows off the essay
he wrote on why Star Wars is better
than any other book he has ever read.
Each aspect of VISTA service should
be undertaken with the same painstak-
ing excellence.
It is common for those who work in
non-profit and human services fields to
feel disillusioned after a hard day or a
long week, but the little triumphs mat-
ter; every success is a step in the right
direction and every effort counts for
something. So whether individuals lis-
tens to Martin Luther King, Jr. or their
own father, remember the importance
of participating in community service
and civic engagement with persever-
ance, enthusiasm, and dedication.
Kate Piniewski VYT A*VISTA member
serving at the DREAM Program (White River Junction, VT)
Kate and teens at Winter
Adventure Camp
Hats made by The
Junction’s teens for
MLK Day.
Volume 11, Issue 2 Page 7
Page 8
VYT Voices
This past November, I started meditat-
ing. Two months prior to that, I had
moved across the country to begin my
year of service, leaving my partner and
my comfort zone in the Pacific North-
west. I fell in love with Vermont and
the Big Picture community almost im-
mediately, but I soon began to dread
any downtime that would allow me the
chance to reflect on the monumental
changes that had just taken place. At
first, I worked hard to avoid those mo-
ments of silence, but eventually, my
mental health began to suffer and I de-
veloped insomnia.
I had passed by the Burlington Shamb-
hala Center many times on my walks to
and from Church Street. The Shamb-
hala tradition shares many similarities
with other Buddhist paths, with a par-
ticular emphasis on secular practice.
One evening, seeking comfort, I de-
cided to check it out. Up one flight of
stairs, I was greeted by one of the most
aesthetically pleasing and calming envi-
ronments that I have ever experienced. I
sat for one hour and left quietly, and
continue to return each week.
What can I say? I was zen-curious, the
weather was getting colder, and a
VISTA stipend does not cover cogni-
tive behavioral therapy.
When I read the above quote from Mar-
tin Luther King, Jr., the prompt for this
quarter’s newsletter in honor of MLK
Day, I immediately thought of my ex-
perience with meditation and mindful-
ness. This “interrelated structure of re-
ality,” the theory that the boundary be-
tween ourselves as individuals and the
collective whole of humanity is little
more than an illusion, is a fundamental
concept of Buddhism. As Buddhist guru
Pema Chodron wrote, “We work on our-
selves in order to help others, but also
we help others in order to work on our-
selves.”
I see this concept of inter-relativity that
both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pema
Chodron articulated in my work each
day as a VISTA. Why serve? Why dedi-
cate a year (or two) to the alleviation of
poverty? We all suffer the consequences
of inequity. Those of us that have the
ability to work towards
justice should.
Anyway, I have no trou-
ble sleeping these days.
tionship with other beings or phenom-
ena.” In Chinese, Japanese and Chris-
tian traditions, there is the idea of the red
thread of destiny which connects people
in certain situations so that they may
help each other along their path. The
Baha’i tradition holds that “ye are all
leaves of one tree and fruits of one
branch.” I tend to use the metaphor of
the universe as a giant lake; any action
“We are caught in an inescapable
network of mutuality, tied in a single
garment of destiny. Whatever affects
one directly, affects all indirectly. I
can never be what I ought to be until
you are what you ought to be. This
is the interrelated structure of real-
ity.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used the
above quote to support his belief
that strong community is necessary
to establish values and to make pro-
gress. He believed that in order to
create meaningful change and to
reach our potential, we must recog-
nize the inner-connectivity of all hu-
mankind.
Dr. King is not alone in this ideology.
John Donne said “no man is an is-
land.” Buddhist philosophy follows
that “all beings and phenomena exist
or occur only because of their rela-
we take, any words spoken, thoughts
practiced…each one is a drop in the
pond and causes ripples throughout.
There is nothing in this world that oc-
curs, which as King said, does not af-
fect all indirectly.
Life is a beautiful balance of cause and
effect. Where we place our thoughts
and our energy impacts not ourselves
alone. I believe that King is speaking
to this and goes further to indicate that
we can only better ourselves and our
situations through the betterment of the
beings with which we share our exis-
tence. I strive to create positive ripples
through my service as a VISTA;
through sharing wisdom gleaned from
experiences with those whom I encoun-
ter; through practicing mindfulness and
compassion; through developing and
practicing positive thought patterns;
and through actively seeking justice
where there is injustice.
Casey Willard VYT A*VISTA member serving at
Washington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys & Girls Club (Montpelier, VT)
Youth volunteers make placemats for
Barre’s MLK Day community lunch
Anna Finklestein VYT A*VISTA member
serving at Big Picture South Burlington (Burlington, VT)
The Opinions expressed in this newsletter belong to the individual writers and do not necessarily re-flect the views of the site where the VISTA serves, Vermont Youth Tomorrow, the Washington
County Youth Service Bureau, the Boys and Girls Club, SerVermont, or the Corporation for National