Fighting for a Cause

By: Matt Gowel

Over the past week, I have completed the onboarding process for my internship at ARCC. There were a couple of things that stuck out to me. Specifically, I enjoyed listening to “The ARCC of Change” podcast. Some of my favorite episodes included the one on hip hop from season three and the interview with Jon Melrod.

I found Jon’s story particularly inspiring. The idea of someone setting aside their interest for the good of the many has always been crazy to me. For those unfamiliar, Jon was a political organizer (mostly focusing on the labor movement) in the sixties. He set aside a bright future as a lawyer to work in factories and inspire people to unionize. He compromised his well-being to do this, having fought cancer in the earlier two-thousands that developed as a result of exposure to dangerous chemicals in factories.

Listening to Donzel’s interview with Jon reminded me that sometimes, one must make personal sacrifices for the good of a cause. In his case, it was labor, but it could be any number of things. The sacrifices do not have to be the huge, life-altering decisions of Jon. One could do smaller things, too. Whether it’s speaking up when you see something you do not like, or volunteering with an organization you believe in, you are making a difference.

After hearing Jon’s story, I am very excited about my summer at ARCC. I truly believe in the cause of anti-racism, I only hope I am contributing enough.