Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice...

I just got back from a public lecture at Syracuse U. by Dr. Muhammad Yunus (http://www.muhammadyunus.org/), a Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work with microloans – loaning small amounts of money to poor people without collateral. He started with 42 people who were borrowing money from loan sharks, looking to borrow a total of $27 (!); knowing that being in debt to those loan sharks could well control their lives for a very long time, he took $27 from his pocket, and from there, he was off. Today the bank he founded lends $100 million per month, entirely in rural areas and almost entirely to women, and close to 100% of their lenders repay their loans. He gave a great presentation, very animated and funny, and I suspect that more than a few people in the packed auditorium were inspired to start thinking about how they could get in on something like this – I know I was. It also so happens that I’m currently reading an edited collection of the writings of Jesuit Fr. Daniel Berrigan, who is well-known for his activism for peace over the past fifty years. Between the lecture and the book, it is refreshing to be reminded of what all the work I am doing for this degree is actually about – trying to learn better how to be an agent of justice in a world that could really use it.