Ethical Responsibility is an awareness of how one's decisions and behaviors impact others, a knowledge of ethical frameworks that guide decision-making, and an understanding of how one's local decisions can have global impact. It is the habit necessary to make sure that one's motivations to act are informed by awareness of the effect those actions will have on others. It is the courage to do the right thing.

Christianity has always been an important part of my upbringing. I learned charity in the alleyways as a young child when my mom and I would make lunches to feed the homeless. Some of these faces I'm passing suddenly seem familiar, or maybe they all just look the same. The question of why God allows suffering begins to come to the forefront of my mind. Then I remember Romans 5:3-5, "And do not only so, but we also boast in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance; And endurance, approvedness; and approvedness, hope; and hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

I visit a church called St. Francis Xavier, the first Black Catholic Church in the entire United States. I watch the scripture turn from logos (written word) to rema (living word) as I see a desperate community in need of aid. Though the community is run down, I am witness to the hope in the volunteers who help everyone and make Sunday Mass and community outreach possible.

I see brothers and sisters in arms for change, a change brought about by the Spirit and the work of human hands in order that God's righteousness and mercy be known for the devoted and the wicked alike.