Letting the world shrink.

[mareht]

Last summer I was eating noodles with a friend in Manhattan before we went to the Mon Roviashow. She asked me who I thought would win the election. I was silent for a time, but eventually said; "I don't know. All I do know is that if *he* wins, my world is going to get very, very small."

Aside from bothering my elected officials at every opportunity with letter and phone calls to unknown effect, there is vanishingly little I can do to cause change on a national or global stage. I can feed my neighbors, though. I can answer emails sent to my local food pantry/community center, Astoria Food Pantry, I can teach a mending class. I can restrict my shopping as much as possible to my local community, I can reduce my consumption and share widely of what I have access to.

We are creatures of limited capacity, and I believe now is the time to look deeply at those capacities, decide what is most important and aligned with our ideals of the world we want to live in, and throw ourselves into whatever is closest to that in our communities.

I can not save anyone. I can feed some people, though.

Comments

[http://lotuslandfineart.com/velvetrope/]

I am grateful for this reminder. Thank you.

[ofearthandstars]

I only wish it were easier to find my ideals in my local community. It seems I need to make peace with the idea of getting as close as I can to the work I want to do while recognizing that not everyone's beliefs will align.

BTW, I recently finished Nourishing Resistance: Stories of Food, Protest, and Mutual Aid, which I am certain came via your recommendation. Thank you for that, it was a good and thoughtful read.

[mareht]

"getting as close as I can to the work I want to do while recognizing that not everyone's beliefs will align." That's actually, I would say, one *the most* important aspects of community building. Far, far too many people don't have that level of nuance in their work and it really damages their ability to impact their communities in any positive way. I work alongside people I believe are truly, deeply misguided, people I'd never invite into my home. However, they have demonstrated an ability to get needed work done, so I swallow my distaste and work beside them. Micro Activism talks a great deal about this, and helped me come to terms with it, if you'd like another book rec. :)

[ofearthandstars]

It's definitely one of the aspects of community work I've found most challenging. And yes, thank you for the rec! I've added to my hope-to-read list.