the people will save us
Good morning friends,
I'm back from two weeks of work travel. First, I was at a staff retreat for a non-profit I just joined, Te Kiwi Maia, who supports current and former first responders and New Zealand Defence Force personnel struggling with stress and burnout. Then I headed to Nelson for a book event and therapist training.
The talk went well and I'm grateful for your feedback from last time!
I feel dipped in gold after so many conversations gilded with laughter and tears, meeting helpers across the country who are committed to relieving distress and supporting people to find hope and agency again.
our refuge is in community
I'd like to highlight just one theme that arose again and again over the last fortnight: our refuge is in community.
Examples flourish across time and region:
- Buddhism details three jewels or refuges: the Buddha, the dharma (knowledge or learning), and the sangha or community of practitioners.
- In Aotearoa, there is a Maori proverb: he aha te mea nui o to ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata! What is the most important thing in the world? It is people it people it is people. (comic published 6 February 2011. Evans, Malcolm Paul)
- In Puerto Rico, a common phrase is Solo el pueblo, salva el pueblo or only the people can save the people. (Photo credit: solo el pueblo salva al pueblo @mercedes_zapata )
- And from Minnesota (gift link to full article):
“A lifelong Minnesotan shared with me two lessons she’d learned watching the recent federal assault on her hometown,” said Bassin. “The first was her jarring realization that ‘there is no net below us.’ She had spent her life assuming that somewhere beneath the visible architecture of laws and institutions there existed a backstop — guardrails that would prevent a fall into the unthinkable. Watching masked federal agents abduct her neighbors and shoot them with impunity forced her to reckon with the reality that no such net exists.”
But the other lesson she drew from Minnesota, said Bassin, was that in the absence of solid safeguards, “watching ordinary citizens show up for one another — offering shelter, standing watch, car-pooling an endangered family’s kids to school — gave her a different kind of confidence. Not that formal checks will save us, but that solidarity remains a renewable resource — that we are and can be our own net.”
Solidarity remains a renewable resource.
We are and can be our own safety net.
Hold tight loves. Let's all hold tight to each other. A few free options below.
Arohanui, Kerry
Free Stuff:
- Krav Maga Classes for Paramedics: The wonderful Krav Maga Wellington team offers free classes for active paramedics working for Wellington Free Ambulance and St. John.
- PETONE BOOK EVENT: Ben Sedley and I are speaking at Petone Schrodingers Books this Thursday 19 March at 6 PM. Free stickers and bookmarks for everyone, free copies of my first book The Ballad of Burnout to people who purchase Start Here.
- WEBINAR: Are you a member of the New Zealand Psychological Society? I'll be giving a video talk on burnout challenges for therapists Tuesday 31 March, 6.00pm to 7.00pm. To register, email Arlene Conway at arlenec@kofo.co.nz