Are you like me? Growing up, did you learn right from wrong at home, in school, and at church? Did you get a good education with the intention of making a contribution to society? Did you involve yourself in an issue, pour your heart into the cause(s), and then run headlong into walls of resistance and disappointment, again and again? Do you wonder now if you did the right thing, did enough, or if your actions mattered?

We’ve all heard of the American Dream–the promise that anyone of us can work hard at an honest job and achieve measures of comfort and success. (But if you’ve been paying attention, you know the American Dream doesn’t work for everyone; the promise fades in the harsh light of injustice.) The question on my mind is if you’ve heard of the Good Samaritan’s Dream? It hawks the idea that if you bring your whole self to a cause with unwavering dedication, you can repair injustice in the world to your liking. Further, it touts that if you become “an expert” in issues surrounding a problem then you’ll have knowledge and credibility to fix it.

The formula for the Good Samaritan Dream is this:

A (good intention) + B (know-how) + C (dogged determination) =

D (justice and well-being for all)

I’m here to say the Good Samaritan’s Dream is a crock. In my experience, even the most talented and dedicated advocates repeatedly fail to achieve what they set out to accomplish. I suspect this is true across the board because–despite the world’s do-gooders (and I count myself among them)–our planet is an increasingly volatile, dangerous, and unjust place. The crux of the matter is this: how can agents for justice acknowledge the betrayal of the Good Samaritan Dream–that we may never heal the world–and carry on with the task at hand?

To my mind, there is only one answer: as a group we should stop working for change and start working for love.

If we want change and particular outcomes, we will continue to be disappointed. But if we let go of our planed-for results and choose instead to act simply as an expression of our compassion and our care, we will find our personal stability unshakable, even as events turn. No one can steal our compassion or our heart; these alone offer solidity in chaos. Acting out of love, it is possible to work joyfully, unscathed and undaunted, in the face of loss.

What’s more, working as an expression of love has the power to transcend “us-them” dualities, disarms opposition (think Gandhi). But I’ll say more on that another time.

If you’re like me, the Good Samaritan’s Dream evaporated after years of working for change. But rather than throwing hands into the air and retreating home with my bag of skills, I am intentionally doubling-down on my commitment to express love through action, come what may.