On December 11th, we welcomed Mr. Paul Breines, who came to speak to the students about his experiences as a Freedom Rider. Paul was an incredibly candid speaker, touching on many different topics surrounding his involvement and the culture of the time. He was able to give the students historic context in his description of how he first came to be involved with the rides; Paul mentioned hearing about the Woolworth's sit ins and being inspired to take action. He described being a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin and picketing with a small handful of students, until being moved to contact SNCC or the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee. Here he embarked on a journey to fight the injustices of our country and to force our government to withhold its own laws. His small part of this movement inspired many of us yesterday and taught us that one person can make a change.
Paul was moved at several points during his talk with the students, reiterating that he frequently becomes emotional when he thinks about our students retracing steps of individuals who dared to face institutionlized racism in this country. To a student's question, "Did you know you were making history?" Paul's response was, "Not at all. We just did what we thought we should."
Overall, it was a great experience yesterday for all of us to hear from a man who, as a young adult, had courage to pursue a path he thought was right. To leave with one of my favorite Twain quotes, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear... not absence of fear."
Let's all strive to exhibit courage and resist our own fears in our lives and daily struggles.
