I Care and I Am Willing to Serve
I Care and I Am Willing to Serve and Stand for Children
Lord I cannot preach like Martin Luther King, Jr.
or turn a poetic phrase like Maya Angelou
but I care and am willing to serve and to stand up for children.
I do not have Fred Shuttlesworth’s and Harriet
Tubman’s courage or Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s political skills
but I care and am willing to serve and raise my voice with others for children.
I cannot sing like Fannie Lou Hamer
or organize like Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin
but I care and am willing to serve.
I am not holy like Archbishop Tutu,
forgiving like Mandela, or disciplined like Gandhi
but I care and am willing to serve and sacrifice to build our children a better future.
I am not brilliant like Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois or
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, or as eloquent as
Sojourner Truth and Booker T. Washington
but I care and am willing to serve and use the talents I do have to keep children safe.
I have not Mother Teresa’s saintliness,
Dorothy Day’s love or Cesar Chavez’s
gentle tough spirit
but I care and am willing to serve and make a difference for children.
God it is not as easy as it used to be
to frame an issue and forge a solution
but I care and am willing to serve and to keep struggling until we find the way to build the 21st
century movement for children.
My mind and body are not so swift as in youth
10and my energy comes in spurts
but I care and am willing to serve and to vote for my grandchildren.
I’m so young
nobody will listen
I’m not sure what to say or do
but I care and am willing to serve.
I can’t see or hear well
speak good English, stutter sometimes, am afraid of criticism
and get real scared standing up before others
but I care and am willing to serve.
Lord, use me as Thou will to save Thy children today and tomorrow and to build a
nation and world where no child is left behind and everyone feels welcome.
Written by:
Marian Wright Edelman
Founder/President, Children’s Defense Fund
Taken from, Hold My Hand: Prayers for Building a Movement to Leave No Child Behind®
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