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I am inspired by the vision of a just world. It is a world that embraces and perpetuates Unitarian Universalist Principles of dignity, democracy, justice, and interconnectedness. I committed to volunteering for the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice Advocacy Corps to be a part of making this vision a reality.<\/p>\n
The year 2016 marked a turning point in my life. I was beginning to think about retirement and where to find meaningful activities that motivated me on a spiritual and personal level.<\/p>\n
One important step I took was joining the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (UUCA). Nurtured and inspired by new friends, I felt the seeds of social justice activism sprout and grow. In response, I marched\u00a0 — from the Women\u2019s March, to the People\u2019s Climate March, and the March for Our Lives. Joining like-minded people in public protest helped me feel involved, but it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
At a 2018 UUCA coffee hour, I stopped by a tabletop display about UUSJ. Having worked with Congress representing the food industry, I was curious about a faith-based advocacy program.<\/p>\n
Intrigued enough to give it a try, \u00a0a few months later I made my first Advocacy Corps Capitol Hill visit. An experienced lobbyist, I nonetheless felt like the new kid on the block as I put my activism into action from a faith-based, personal witness perspective. Before the end of our first meeting, I was hooked.<\/p>\n
As I begin the third year of my work as an AC team member, I see every Capitol Hill visit as an opportunity to bring my vision of a just world closer to reality. I draw strength from taking positive action through this social justice work. In our congressional meetings, our talking points and \u201casks\u201d are grounded in our UU principles. Speaking from this faith-based platform, we provide decision-makers with a unique perspective that they might not hear otherwise.<\/p>\n
My most memorable meeting came when my team met with the office of a Member of Congress who supported the detention of immigrant families. \u00a0Having quickly researched the Member\u2019s website on my phone, I was able to point to areas of shared concern during the meeting to help bridge our differences. The result was a productive exchange of views. I can\u2019t say we changed minds but our voices were heard and we opened the door to future dialogue.<\/p>\n
The work I do as a UUSJ AC member energizes me to continue working toward my vision of a just world. In the words of Mother Teresa, it may just be \u201c<\/em>a drop of water in the sea. But after this drop, the sea will never be the same.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In gratitude,<\/p>\n Jula Kinnaird<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am inspired by the vision of a just world. It is a world that embraces and perpetuates Unitarian Universalist Principles of dignity, democracy, justice, and interconnectedness. I committed to volunteering for the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice Advocacy Corps to be a part of making this vision a reality. The year 2016 marked a … Continue reading Jula Kinnaird on Envisioning a Just World (Why I Commit to UUSJ)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,1952,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-testimonials","category-volunteer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23272,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23270\/revisions\/23272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}