It is a difficult task to attempt to pinpoint one single person that has influenced me the most intellectually; there are many people that have contributed to what I know. It would almost be ignorant to limit intellectual influence to one person, although, I feel as though there is a single person that has changed who I am entirely. It’s important to note what the root of intelligence is; I believe that it is passion. The person that has struck a match of passion in my heart and has challenged as well as taught me the most is Jesus Christ. After Him, I believe my main intellectual influences are Martin Luther King Jr., Sufjan Stevens and Shane Claiborne. I will address the ways in which I have been influenced by each of these sources.
Jesus Christ is the one that I worship. By worship, I mean that I literally want to be more like Him and I strive to understand His mind. The act of doing this permeates my life. This explains the beginning of my actions, the core of my being. I feel as though I have a heart for justice and social equality (as well as human rights) because Jesus did, and still does. I feel led into my future career, as an educator, by the orchestrator of life. The reason why I pursue knowledge and expertise on certain things is because deep within my heart they are incredibly important to me. This passion begins my quest in almost everything that I do; I can see this passion underneath all of my major intellectual influences as well.
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most important people in our nation’s history. Not only did he lead American’s toward the civil rights movement but he did it in such a revolutionary way: without violence. M.L.K. studied the way that Jesus Christ handled conflict and that guided his direction for social change. The way he organized people to protest for their rights is phenomenal and profound. Nonviolent resistance is still a concept that the majority of the United States does not embrace. America is known for its “unstoppable” military and for dealing with issues with brute force. Yet, despite the ultra-American way of handling conflict, Martin Luther King led black Americans to social change, theoretically. I don’t want to depreciate the outcome of the civil rights movement; but, I firmly believe this nation as a whole must go through more changes until all American citizens are given an equal opportunity at success in this country.
The second person that has influenced me intellectually is Sufjan Stevens. Stevens is a musician from Michigan. He produces thick art that is layered in complexity. While encountering his art one may experience sensory-overload due to its brilliant nature. I may even argue that he is the greatest musician, if not one of the greatest artists, of this decade. A phenomenal piece of his is called “The BQE.” It is an exploration into the Brooklyn-Queens expressway as well as the hula hoop. It may be trite for me to attempt to articulate what the concepts behind these symbols are but I will give it a try. The BQE itself is an open-wound tearing through the city and is a direct result of the automobile. The automobile is responsible for substantial changes in American culture. The automobile created the phenomenon that people had the option to drive out of the city and into the suburban sprawl. Stevens filmed various angles and perspectives of driving and watching the BQE in action. He also composed a fantastic album expressing what he thought of this experience. Stevens wrote out his thoughts and included these notes in a leaflet tucked within the album art. The footage he shot and edited from the BQE was then projected behind a live performance from the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2007 in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the Next Wave Festival. The material is dense; Stevens not only confronts the history and social forces behind the BQE but also reveals more ideas. He writes about self-realization while driving the BQE and how he is “born again” while riding through the cervix-like overpasses. He also writes about the significance of the hula-hoop --and while this symbol may seem random—the hoop is circular, much like the wheel of an automobile, and while it doesn’t instigate forward motion, it celebrates the act of staying in one place and watching the world spin around you. I am deeply, deeply influenced by Sufjan Stevens other pieces of his art as well because almost all of them challenge me intellectually.
The final person that has largely influenced me is Shane Claiborne. He is a celebrated Christian activist and author. I recently saw him speak on Christians and Civil Disobedience at a forum at Malone University. He started a ministry in Philadelphia called the Simple Way. The Simple Way is an organization that cares for others and helps bring public attention to unjust laws. Recently, Claiborne led a peaceful protest in Philadelphia because it was illegal to feed the homeless under certain circumstances and it was also illegal for homeless people to sleep in the park. He distributed communion in the park, as well as pizza, and had a sleepover with all of his homeless friends. He was thrown in jail and had to go to court. Eventually all of the charges were dropped and, I believe, the law was reformed. Claiborne also sheds light to Pennsylvania’s gun laws. He sees a lot of violence in the streets of Philly and wants to have stricter gun laws in the state— a young man was shot and killed in the Simple Way’s front yard. His ministry is not a separate entity from the city like a lot of churches are. He lives right in the midst of the poor. This ministry really resonates with me because not only does Claiborne provide housing and food to the poor and destitute, he also works for social change in the judicial system. I want to be like that.
Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King Jr., Sufjan Stevens and Shane Claiborne have all influenced me spiritually and intellectually. Because of the spiritual pull in my heart, I want to increase my intelligence on issues and see restoration and authentic justice in society. I believe that my chance to see this social change may occur while being a teacher in the public school system. I don’t think that the gap in the quality of education in urban and suburban districts should exist. It also cannot be ignored any longer. It is simply unfair and corrupt. The system needs to change from the inside out. A lot of the issues have to do with funding. Because students are not receiving an equal opportunity in high school or even promised the hope of college and other forms of further education, they continue the cycle of poverty that they were born in. Regardless of race or ethnicity, the poor people in America are not breaking the cycle of poverty. What happened to the “American dream”? The intellectual influences that I have mentioned allow me to see a model of what my life could look like and what role I can play in social change.
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