Shane Claiborne

Shane Claiborne (www.thesimpleway.org)

Inner city Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: a place that many people in this country would not like to face in the daylight hours, let alone live there. Plagued with rampant homelessness, drug use, and depressing poverty, the citizens of this part of the city face a daunting challenge by just getting out of bed in the morning. Places like this can be mirrored in countless cities across our country. Los Angeles. Chicago. New York. Seattle. Spokane. Our cities always have places where the poor population lives. Philadelphia has one up on the above cities though: Shane Claiborne. No matter your political or religious views, one can’t help but look at the effect that Shane is having on his community and gain a sense of inspiration to change their own.

Shane lives in inner city Philadelphia, in an intentional community called The Simple Way. Not only does he live there, but he was also one of the founding members of the community with a few fellow students of Eastern University, a private Christian college in the same city. Wanting to make a difference, spurred on by the mistreatment of the poor in the community by the city government, they decided to advocate and help the poor and needy around them, through living amongst and working with them on a daily basis. Shane would say that he is only following what Jesus commanded all of humanity to do for each other.

Shane Claiborne (www.thesimpleway.org)

Through his selfless devotion to the needy of our society, Shane has advocated for others to get involved in situations where they see injustice happening. He has shown this commitment by being a leader in the inner city neighborhoods he lives in through activities like tutoring students, feeding the hungry, and refurbishing inhabitable houses to a state that people can live in them again. He has also stood up for his beliefs by going to Iraq during the United States bombing campaign so that the Iraqi people could see the love of Jesus and prove that Americans were willing to stand with them and support them during a time of emotional and spiritual need.

Shane Claiborne has inspired me to serve those populations, which we normally overlook because of convenience. These actions and the others mentioned above, clearly model the “Character Counts” citizenship pillar. Through serving Jesus by serving those in need where they are, I feel I can make a difference in this city. I admire and accept his encouragement to live and serve in the forgotten areas of the empire, as he calls it. The mode I have chosen to make these differences is education, and Shane is one of the reasons I have chosen to become an educator. Through his modeling of good citizenship, not only has Shane made a difference in the world, but he is inspiring an army of people, such as myself, to do what God has called them to do: serve their fellow human beings in need.

Shane Claiborne is a modern day living hero that is transforming the forgotten areas of our cities through direct action and inspiring others to do the same in the places they live. I think if you would ask Shane if he thinks he is a hero he would say no. He would look to people like Jesus and Mother Theresa (who he served with for a brief time), and say they are heroes. If he said that to me, I would look him back in the eyes and thank him for all that he has done to be a good citizen of the world. Because of his actions, Shane is being light to Jesus and following through with what he asks us to do during our brief time on earth. Shane Claiborne is one of this nation’s faith heroes.