Interfaith program

I attended a wonderful panel presentation, on the intersection of social justice and religion, at SU this week. I expected to feel encouraged and reenergized by a group of religious leaders talking about this topic, which is almost the raison d'etre of my life.  Instead, I left feeling utterly depressed and discouraged. For one thing, there was hardly anyone in attendance - I've been to several of these faith topics lunch presentations, and the turnout has always been good, but there wasn't a dozen people at this one.  Also, it felt like all these leaders have been doing this work for decades, and what good has it done - we are more selfish and less interconnected as a society than ever.  To put the final nail in it, a retired professor in the audience was the last to speak, and he talked about teaching these ideals in classes for decades and feeling like students in the class listen attentively, but it doesn't affect their behavior outside the class at all - that he doesn't really change anything.  And of course he's right - we all see it, all the time.  I feel like my values and my ideals are just dying on the vine, despite wonderful people who continue to fight for them.