Shanti Medina Graphic Editor

Social Justice Has Many Faces

by Shanti Medina

Born and raised in Long Beach, Calif., I grew up with diversity all around me. I am a Pacific Islander; my best friends included the good-old-American type as well as every ethnicity and religion you could possibly imagine.
I respected other cultures and religions, gave money to the homeless occasionally and was brought up in a home where I was never forced to take a particular position on political or social issues. I was taught to love, be a good person, be focused on my future and to be financially stable.

I ventured far away from home to Loyola University Chicago in 2002, not knowing much about the Jesuit community and its ideals. However, I’m never going to forget when I figured it out. Social Justice? Being socially aware? The people who made my clothes were being overworked in sweatshops? What in the world were they talking about?

In my head, I had always lived in a very bohemian world, where everyone was loved and was happy; basically, ignorance was bliss. During my freshman year at Loyola, I attempted to break out of my mold.

I remember the first time I told my mom I was at a soup kitchen. “What are you doing at a soup kitchen,” she joked. “Did you run out of food?”

As a child, my mother painstakingly instilled high standards of grooming and fashion in me; she spent tons of money to dress me more than nicely. When I pulled an extreme change in appearance, it was my mother’s worst nightmare. Suddenly, I began wearing sweatshirts and long jeans with flip flops as my standard uniform. I also had pinned an anti-war button to my backpack and begun talking about things and causes, something I had never done before.

Because of my Jesuit education and many, many conversations, I am more able to see that we all play our parts in the local and global community.

Although I believed in social justice causes and genuinely wanted to help people before Loyola, I was not really passionate about trying to help. Self-sacrifice just wasn’t my style. As a Loyola student, I learned that my attitude toward helping was just as bad as not helping at all.

Getting involved in social justice means different things to different people.

I am very grateful for those who will give up their comfortable lifestyle to go serve the underprivileged first hand, doing the work I am not called to do. It was through them that I learned the importance of giving in the first place.

However, I want to be a business person and work in public relations. I will take a different role in the struggle for justice.

With the knowledge that I acquire through my field, I can volunteer some time to assisting non-profit organizations. While I work hard to earn a salary and become financially stable, I can increase my ability to donate money to those who are directly called to serve and help provide the funds to execute their dreams of helping others.

By following my own passions, I know that I too can assist the causes that are important to me in my own way.