Author: Luke Waldo

“What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it all the rest are not only useless but disastrous.” – Thomas Merton Twenty-five years ago, as a third-year college student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire just months from my 21st birthday, I traveled to Valladolid, Spain to study for a semester. I would live with a host family and another student, and immerse myself fully into the culture and language that I...

“This direct cash transfer is grounded in the belief that economic and concrete supports build toward true equity – when each and every family will one day be positioned at the same starting line and where these families in need will finally have the proper supports and resources to enjoy the stability they so desperately desire and deserve.” – Suzanne Miles-Gustave A young mother of two found herself overwhelmed by life’s demands. Struggling with unstable employment, temporary housing, and the impending arrival of her third child, she felt overloaded by stress, weighed down by too much pressure and too...

Bolivia’s Presidential Palace and main plaza in La Paz were under siege by its top military general and a group of soldiers on June 26. After an intense three-hour standoff that escalated with an armored vehicle and soldiers attempting to break down the palace doors to enter the building, the Bolivian President, Luis Arce, and his security forces resisted the coup attempt and ultimately arrested the general, the head of the Navy, and a dozen soldiers. JUNE 26, 2024: AN ATTEMPTED COUP IN BOLIVIA Sadly, the brief effort to overthrow the democratically-elected government is nothing new to Bolivians. According...

“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.” – Andrew Boyd Twenty years ago, I was living in Bolivia and working with boys and young men that were living in the streets. I spent my days navigating the hot streets and markets, dark...

In a Milwaukee duplex, a mother, her two children, and her medically fragile father faced a challenging situation. As a single mother working a minimum wage job, her financial situation only allowed her to afford rent in a home that had been poorly maintained. She soon found their home infested with cockroaches. This issue, unknown to her, would soon draw the attention of Child Protective Services (CPS) due to a health worker’s safety concerns for her father and role as a mandated reporter. The mother felt both anger and embarrassment when CPS was alerted, as her financial situation was...

“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.” – Mahatma Gandhi “India is the world’s oldest continuous civilization.” I heard this thought-provoking statement a number of times when I traveled to India with my wife, son, and in-laws in February. As I reflected on the significance of a people living together, building community and culture for millennia in resistance to or temporary co-existence with would-be conquerors and colonizers, I was moved by the idea of such deep connection to one another and one’s identity to make such a...