"GET READY FOR COMMUNITY" . . .
while we're definitely not here to put a positive spin on despair, fear, or pain, for those who are feeling the very real intensity of any/all of those things, we did find that these words from Jeffrey Marsh brought an infusion of joy that most closely approximated a hug from a beloved person.
More than anything, the events of the year / decade / century / millennium, most recently culminating in last week's election, have us thinking about how long the fight for liberation is. How it is not for the impatient, or those seeking a quick fix, or anyone whose attention span for the human in all of us, is short.
While we hope against hope that you are allowing yourselves, and others, the patience to process the United States' struggle toward true democracy as needed, to be distracted and out of sorts, to experience emotions that may come and go with little explanation or preamble...we also hope against hope that you feel driven toward community, in whatever small way.
It could be as simple as giving and receiving one of those hugs we mentioned above. If you are involved in community organizing or mutual aid of some kind, it could mean having a meeting where everyone just sits and holds space for one another. In our go-go-go productivity cycle, where action is placed high above contemplation and uncertainty, we need to be reminded that feeling stymied and even helpless can be a necessary reprieve from knowing exactly what you are going to do next. The fertile field must sometimes lie fallow, in order to provide the balance of what sustains us in the long term.
The reason that community is such a respite for us right now, is that it allows for all of these things: it is the place we go when we are speechless and need the simple gift of someone's presence...and it is the place we go when we are filled with the power of possibility and ready to gather our efforts and build together. In addition to our usual tidbits, we've rounded up some of the words from people we are in community with, whether person-to-person or through online education, that have helped sustain us through this week, and that we intend to work alongside, for all of the weeks ahead:
"We have worked too hard and come too far to despair for long, to resign ourselves to a nebulous fate, and to look down. Even in my grief, I will look up." - Swati Singh, The Mustard Sandwich
"They will not make me care less about other people because I am worried about myself. They do not get to have me lead from a place of individualism and fear." - Desiree Adaway, The Adaway Group
"Whatever happens, whoever is chosen, our work will continue to be for the benefit of this tender, beleaguered earth." - Francis Weller
Ever onward,
Dor + Tay
photo by Sophia Piña-McMahon
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