"I Care and I am Willing to Serve"

"I Care and I Am Willing to Serve"
by Marian Wright Edelman

Lord I cannot preach like Martin Lurther King, Jr.
or turn a poetic phrase like Maya Angeloubut but I care and am willing to serve.

I do not have Fred Shuttlesworth's and HarrietTubman's courage
or Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's political skillsbut I care and am willing to serve.

I cannot sing like Fannie Lou Hamer
or organize like Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin but I care and am willing to serve.

I am not holy like Archbishop Tutu,forgiving like Mandela,
or disciplined like Gandhi but I care and am willing to serve.

I am not brilliant like Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois or Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
or as eloquent asSojourner Truth and Booker T. Washington but I care and am willing to serve.

I have not Mother Teresa's saintliness,Dorothy Day's love or Cesar Chavez's gentle tough spirit but I care and am willing to serve.

God it is not as easy as it used to be to frame an issue and forge a solution but I care and am willing to serve.

My mind and body are not so swift as in youthand my energy comes in spurts but I care and am willing to serve.

I'm so young nobody will listen I'm not sure what to say or do but I care and am willing to serve.

I can't see or hear well , speak good English, stutter sometimes, am afraid of criticism and get real scared standing up before others but I care and am willing to serve.