Beacons of Change : Rebels With a Cause, These Four Activists Tell How They Want to Reshape L.A.--and the World : DOMINGO DELGADO: ACTIVIST FOR THE ELDERLY : ‘It was just my nature and my love of people that got me involved.’

They are solitary voices shouting to be heard, pleading to be supported, but willing to stand alone.

They are activists--like Californian Harry Wu, a human rights advocate who spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps before immigrating to the United States in 1985. He risked his freedom in June while entering China in his continuing efforts to draw attention to human rights violations.

What makes activists take such risks?

Activism is a lifelong pursuit, says Craig Jenkins, a sociology professor at Ohio State University. Those who take up a cause rarely let go. The causes are as diverse as the activists, says Jenkins, who chairs the Collective Behavior and Social Movements section of the American Sociological Assn.

Activism in the 1990s has taken a more local focus. While few gain the international attention of Wu, who remains jailed, many are at work in the neighborhoods. The following are four Angelenos who live their lives committed to bringing light to darkness.

*

“I am mandated by Scripture: ‘Honor your mother and father.’ ”

So says, Domingo Delgado, 66, who has been paying tribute to hundreds of Los Angeles County mothers, fathers, abuelas and abuelos, as one of East Los Angeles’ leading spokesmen for the elderly.

A 30-year veteran of the County Parks and Recreation Department, Delgado recently made his “transition” (he’s banished retirement from his vocabulary), and now devotes his full-time energies to elderly issues as a recreational senior specialist. He’s also minority affairs spokesman for the American Assn. of Retired Persons.

Stressing the importance of outlets and activities for personas mayores , Delgado, an artist, knows that the answer to eternal youth lies within the purview of purpose. He believes in self-sufficiency and the importance of leading a movement rather than simply following one.

“I’m trying to get our populace, especially Hispanics involved, otherwise they would be home watching television,” says the Los Angeles native.

The problem, Delgado has found, is more pronounced with men than women. “When gentlemen think of retirement, they think of sitting around. Idleness--that will kill them as fast as drinking or smoking.”

Delgado’s career began at 25, in the late ‘60s, when the groundwork for senior services was just being laid. “It was just my nature and my love of people that got me involved.”

There were unexpected gains. “I didn’t know my grandparents. So to me they were all my grandparents,” he recalls. “I came in with gusto and vinegar,” cracks Delgado, “and they told me where to go.”

Activism was and is a logical extension of a gregarious nature, while serving as an outlet for his painting and sketching.

“I view everything [with] creativeness. The responsibility of the artist is to beautify this world.”

Delgado’s advice for anyone interested in organizing forces and instigating action: “Never be satisfied with one response. Always be inquisitive. Learn to accept advice. Break it down. Learn something new everyday.”

It’s what has kept him fresh and on top of the issues. “Step back once in a while like an artist does,” pause to take in the strengths, the weaknesses of the design. Never forget that the project is a work in progress. “So take a little gamble. That’s why I like to walk around and agitate. There’s no community where I don’t have my 2 cents in.”