A reporter once asked A. J. Muste, the gentle but committed protagonist for the Christian way, why he wasted his time in lonely vigils in obscure places in the cause of peace and in the struggle for human dignity.  What good did Muste think was being accomplished?  Muste answered, “I don’t do this to change the world.  I do it to keep the world from changing me.”

It’s easy to be changed by the world.  Newspapers and TV witness to it every day.  A judge charged with the awesome responsibility of administering justice fairly defrauds the government by income tax evasion, yet refuses to resign his judgeship even though he is sentenced to two years in prison.  “Everybody does it,” is his only defense. 

We need to remember Muste’s worlds:  “I don’t do this to change the world.  I do it to keep the world from changing me.”