Blog

-Ron Lapitan, Former Community Outreach Coordinator

One of the human rights books I had to read for my job talked about Sisyphus, the Greek hero condemned to push a boulder up a mountain, only to watch it roll to the bottom before he ever reached the top for all eternity. His punishment was for a trick he played that involved chaining up death so that suffering ceased in the world for a period of time.

“Today, I’d like you to write a case study about the gang MS13,” I said this morning to Yosaph​, our intern who has been helping me write a human rights and public health curriculum for the student leaders of the high school teams we are starting. You might have seen Yosaph recently on a CHHR video where he gave a passionate, impromptu speech about the imperative to serve marginalized populations. He will be leaving us at the end of this week to graduate from Mt. Vernon High School, where he launched one of our Health as Right Clubs, then start at Harvard Medical School. His dream is to become a neurosurgeon.

“The vice-principle at one of the high schools where we are starting a club said that a large problem amongst the students is that many want to join MS13,” I explained. “I want you to write a discussion for our curriculum that talks about the human rights they have violated, to appeal to the youths’ sense of justice to change their values about joining,” I described.

“The other thing I’d like is for you to think of things we could do to promote our budget for the youth teams in these last 3 days of the fundraiser,” I said last. “We probably won’t reach the goal because we’re so behind. But might as well try, right?” I asked. He nodded, then spent the day busy with these things. As we packed up to leave, he looked up from his computer with a smile and said: “I believe [everything we’ve done] is going to change the world.” I agreed by smiling back.

You won’t win everything, but I am here for the ride. We are happy to try and fail, and try and fail like Sisyphus, taking joy in the knowledge that we strive to alter something about this world. If our boulders should roll down the mountain, we will be there at the foot to push even harder. We are happy because the dream of a better world is worth it.

“Sisyphus’s silent joy is contained therein… [He] teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks… The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.”

-Camus

(Image: leaders from the GMU Health as Right Club, whose projects include improving resources for homeless students, and organizing collaboration between the school’s service groups.)