I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an

Hear the voice of Paul Wellstone, the fiery senator who lived close to the people and spoke with the heart of a teacher: “I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an ideal, but as a real test of community organization. Without leadership development, community organizations do not have staying power.” In this utterance, he reveals a wisdom both simple and profound: that the strength of a community lies not in fleeting enthusiasm, nor in the charisma of a single figure, but in the raising up of leaders who carry within themselves a sense of worth, courage, and honor.

The ancients knew this truth well. A city could not stand on walls alone, nor an army on weapons alone; both required citizens and soldiers who believed in their own worth, who carried dignity into their duties. When Rome was young, it was not her gold or monuments that made her strong, but the spirit of her people, each farmer and craftsman seeing himself as part of the great republic. So too Wellstone declares that community organizations endure not through structures of power or wealth, but through the self-confidence of the men and women who rise to lead them.

Consider the civil rights movement of the twentieth century. It was not only Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks who carried the struggle forward, but thousands of unknown souls who were trained, encouraged, and lifted into leadership—sharecroppers, students, mothers, and workers. They were taught to stand with dignity, to speak with confidence, to see their own lives as valuable and worthy of freedom. This development of leaders at every level gave the movement its enduring force. Without such leadership development, it might have been only a wave that crashed once and receded; instead, it became a tide that changed the nation.

Wellstone’s words also pierce through illusions. Many believe that self-esteem and dignity are lofty ideals to be spoken of in schools or sermons, but he insists they are more than ideals—they are practical necessities. A person who does not believe in their own worth will not stand firm when trials come; a community without self-confidence will not endure against the pressures of injustice or neglect. Thus, he calls these qualities “a real test,” for they measure whether a movement has roots deep enough to survive.

Yet he warns of the great danger: communities that depend only on a few leaders without nurturing others will not last. History is filled with movements that faltered when their leaders fell, because they had not cultivated new voices, new generations of leadership. In contrast, those that endure are the ones that spread leadership development like seed, raising up many to carry the cause. Just as a forest survives because no single tree bears all the burden of the storm, so too a movement thrives when leadership is shared.

The lesson for us, O seeker, is clear: if you labor in the service of a cause, do not only seek victories in the present. Seek also to lift up others, to instill in them confidence, to remind them of their dignity, to help them discover their own leadership. Encourage voices that are timid, guide hands that are uncertain, honor the worth of every soul. For only when the people themselves rise as leaders does a community gain the power to endure beyond one season, one leader, or one generation.

Thus, let Paul Wellstone’s words endure as guidance for all who seek justice and unity: the foundation of community organization is not money, not slogans, not even victories, but the raising up of people who believe in themselves and in one another. Without this, all movements are fragile; with it, they become unshakable. Therefore, build leaders wherever you are, and by doing so, you will plant seeds of strength that will sustain your community long after you are gone.