Enough is a place we build together
& other thoughts on the human ways we sustain each other
My last post talked about the distinction between the mythical and logical, engaging in a spiritual inquiry I found myself at the end of standing firmly, feet planted on the ground. This week I talk about stepping into a room and finding GOD.
It was an ordinary school night. And I was attending a community meeting in Pescadero CA, hosted and organized by the community organization Puente. We gathered in the elementary school auditorium and covered the topic of Immigration, getting clear on how to respond and what to do if ICE showed up in town and it got me thinking…
About resources.
And what we think of when we hear that word…
Many folks think money. But money is a stand in and of itself, for the things that are actually of value to us that money grants us access to. The real value of money is →
Freedom
shelter food
opportunity
access to our time | our energy
our attention.
RESOURCE
A definition: A source of aid readily drawn upon when needed.
The oxford dictionary: A means of supplying a deficiency or need, something that is a source of help, information, strength
The biological definition: A substance or object in the environment needed by the organism for normal growth, maintenance and reproduction.
Our very relationship to what is and isn’t a resource, is what shapes our experience of the world.
It got me thinking about how we live in a time marked by more choice and convenience than ever before, in a time of massive material abundance, we have more free time due to technological innovation and automation, we have more access to each other and information because of social media and we still don’t know what to do with all of it. We seem to be particularly UNCLEAR on the VALUE of the resources available to us, of what relationship to resource best serves us and the well being of the planet beyond the sentiment more is better, and today’s best is tomorrow’s minimum.
And I would say that perspective isn’t making us well, it’s making us sick.
It got me thinking, that it’s critical to be clear about what resource is, if I’m going to spend most of life working to acquire it.
Which led me to think about one resource that is inherent that we forget, but is oh so worth investing in because of the power of return on our investment, the systems of support that are holding us.
I have a sneaking suspicion the more responsible we feel we are to see and contribute to the systems of support in which we are embedded the more WELLNESS we will experience as a result.
So then, where we are selling ourselves short thinking we are the exception to the interconnectedness of it all?
Some questions surfaced:
How invested are we in recognizing the inherent embedded nature of our existence? How much responsibility do we feel to these systems?
what do we have to give up in order to get there?
what do we have to remember?
where do we turn to learn one if the inadequacy of our childhoods, if our broken lineages, if the culture that shaped us left us without a clear map to guide us, without a north star to aim for beyond our own self centeredness?
I’v been steady searching for the answer since my preteens…for a way of being that has at it’s ethical core the idea:
Help people because that is your obligation to every human on the planet.
I had a profound experience of feeling really really well when I walked into the auditorium and looked around at the community meeting.
An overwhelming sense of clarity, and a deep e x h a l e found me.
Oh. I thought. Right. THIS is what matters. THIS is what’s important. Not my social media feed where everyone is intellectualizing, ‘educating’, marketing, alarming…no no no. Here. On the ground, in-person, in relationship. In the room.
This is where GOD lives.
is a community resource center doing just that. Providing education and resources around immigration issues, education and labor rights to increase equity among its community members in the rural town of Pescadero. Here are a few…
We walked into the elementary school auditorium where folding lunch tables were set up and spread out around the room, the smell of pork tamales filling the space.
I clock the resources…
yummy, nourishing food
a warm welcoming environment
a sense of belonging established by hugs and handshakes rippling out across the crowd and the intergenerational presence well represented among them.
Play, laughter, colored pictures from all elementary school grades up on the walls, pens and pencils on the tables, chairs lined up along the edges.
accessibility to the education being presented—bilingual, presented in a variety of ways to make support multiple kinds of learners: visual and auditory (headphones were available with a translator for english speakers)
Kique Bazan is standing at the front of the room, a wonderful soul I hadn’t seen since I trained with Not For Sale back in 2009. He now runs Alas, in Half Moon Bay, a non profit recently named non-profit of the year in the state of California.
Ahhhhh, another resource: a community leader with a shared experience to the people he’s serving.
Alas is a non-profit supporting social wellness, mental health care, education, immigration and work through multicultural practices in Latino communities up and down the coast.
We sat down, put on our headphones to listen to the presentation in English. Bill Hing, a Lawyer who’s been making his rounds presenting to communities who are vulnerable to ICE was also there.
ANOTHER RESOURCE: A leader who is an advocate and an expert.
A professor of law for over 25 years, He’s been and specializing in immigration law just as long. He stood and answered people’s questions, clearing up misconceptions about what ICE can and can’t do, getting into what exactly the limits of their jurisdiction are, and learned about the best approaches to handle ICE (follow this link for more details and rapid response hotlines).
He offered an invaluable resource: visibility (afforded to him through his position of expert).
He shared that most deportations are happening because folks are coerced and intimidated into talking without knowing their rights and once they do they incriminate themselves. All ICE needs to know to start a deportation is that you weren’t born here. So get an AB 60 CA driver’s license..anyone in CA can get one, the DMV is not connected to the immigration department, and it is not enough to reveal you were not born here. Don’t show your passport or your MatrÍcula. If you are unlawful assert your right to remain silent.
ICE can show up at your home, your family gatherings, celebrations, and approach school grounds. They need a warrant signed by a federal judge to come IN (some ICE officers present a warrant signed by themselves which is not valid). You can ask them to please leave if they do not present a warrant (unless it’s an emergency…If you run, that can create an emergency—be calm). You can refuse to answer their questions, refuse to let them look around, refuse them permission to enter the building if they don’t present a warrant. Which you should do. Otherwise it becomes a game of he said, she said.
You are protected by your fifth amendment right to not answer any of their questions until a lawyer is present even if they have a warrant with your name on it. You have a right to remain silent even if you have documents.
For anyone with citizenship status, it is best to not show your documents if ICE shows up without a warrant as to not create pressure or reason to reveal anyone who might be without documentation.
Once detained by ICE, you have a right to remain silent until a lawyer is present even if they have a warrant with your name on it. That is what the community response hotline offers, free immediate legal support to anyone who gets picked up by ICE.
The hotline is here ↴
Well damn. Talk about resource.
Reliably sourced information is a resource that puts people’s fear at ease.
It helps us figure out who and what to trust and what to do next when in crisis.
Visibility helps support our sense of biological safety
( a topic I’ll cover in a future newsletter).
Puente came together to resource the community.
With food, a community response hotline, expertise, perspective, best practices, and hope. Kique reminded us at the end of the meeting to stand together, that when we are unified we are much harder to take advantage of, less slips through the cracks, and we can overcome even the most grueling of adversity.
Which put things into perspective…
Grounded, I realized there was a lived experience not belonging to me that I was exposed to by showing up. That I could FEEL by being in the room.
I could feel the importance of gaining access to this information, the importance of the fact it was all being given FOR FREE, the significance of hearing your question asked by someone else and having an expert answer, of feeling less alone, less terrorized by misinformation, less isolated in one’s experience, of having a community to lean into, of having many eyes looking out for the collective.
In nature, resources are shared, not hoarded. The spirit of nature’s abundance that remains in balance if we can respect the cyclical nature of life (feast AND famine), urges us to take what’s needed and leave enough for the next.
The next person
The next family
The next pack
The next mouth
The next hungry belly
Because what we get in touch with when we keep in mind we are extensions of the natural world is the reality that what goes around comes around, none of us are exempt from eventually experiencing the repercussions of someone who takes more than they need.
It takes a village.
And what one person gives and takes in any given moment is always subject to change. That is the nature of things.
The Jewish people have survived some of the greatest atrocities committed against them by being well organized around the idea that a well kept culture has well kept systems of support in place.
There is a shared—communal—open—door attitude that defines the Jewish way of life. And it isn’t just reserved for other Jewish folk. I’m always surprised when my Jewish friends scoff at my tentativeness to invite myself over or assume the invitation for dinner is yes of course, extended to me when I ask, “are you sure?”
The answer is always, yes, yes. Come for dinner. Why wouldn’t you be invited?
There is plenty. There is plenty.
We forget this too.
While there may be hierarchy at the level of skillfulness and capacity—some are stronger than others, some are more thoughtful leaders, some have visibility where others do not, some are more capable of freely giving intimacy, our worthiness of living a life of dignity, of honor and respect doesn’t vary. And we should stop acting like it does.
We have a responsibility to not waste what we have.
And when it comes to our resourcing, It would benefit us to consider the value of what we have at our disposal, what true signs of wealth are, and what we have to offer.
In some cultures, it is a sign of wealth to have no possessions at all because you’ve given them all away.
What remains is a quality of relationship, a high quality system of support unlike any other.
We have a responsibility to be generous, kind, and of service. To the planet and to those most vulnerable among us. Because that is the right thing to do. Because we are better off for it.
I am mistaken when I fail to see the way your liberation is tied up with mine.
And we can do it in simple ways.
We don’t all have to be leaders.
We don’t all have to be expert.
It is meaningful it is to show up to an auditorium and hand out warm food to grumbling bellies
It is meaningful to ask questions and work to understand someone else’s fears and experiences that differ from our own
It is meaningful to walk someone to their car when they show tentativeness late at night
It is meaningful to ask, “How can I help? Or how can I best support you?” when we don’t know and let the person decide what it is they need
It matters to have eyes on each other so we can track over time — so that when you break your foot, get a cast and transition to a boot I can say, “I’m so glad you’re healing!” “Do you need a ride to the hospital?” Knowing you may not have a way of getting there, because it’s the kind thing to do.
When you lose a loved one, a year passes, maybe 2, you have folks coming up to you to ask, “I know the anniversary is around the corner, how are you feeling? Is there anything you need?”
When we are in contact with each other we become more accountable to each other.
It doesn’t mean we have to have all the answers.
We can show up as archivists and tell each other’s stories. And in order to do so we have to get to know them.
And in order to know them
we have to SHOW UP
get into the room + bring our curiosity.
What if we grounded in the idea that sharing our resources is more available and more important to us than isolating and withdrawing from each other?
What if KNOWING the answer wasn’t a prerequisite we needed to satisfy before simply showing up?
What if we trusted it was safe and learned to reach out when we felt taxed, lonely and afraid?
What if we really gave up the idea we have to do it all by ourselves?
What if figuring out what enough looks and feels like is the critical foundation upon which we build a future in which more of us feel whole, complete, and connected? What if that’s the pathway to understanding what really matters?
Then whatever comes after enough is the EXTRA we have a responsibility to be intentional with. When that extra can benefit most theeeeeen we really start to experience a life worth living, in showing up in the moments that matter. Because it’s precisely WHAT our resource makes possible, what money represents, that leads to more life satisfaction, more freedom, more people feeling well.
When your house is burning down in a wildfire, having a car to escape the imminent danger is way better than not having one. But getting out of the area in your car is made more meaningful the more people you can pile into it.
♡
xx
Z
Zoe! This is so beautiful, filled with many reminders and deep truths 💕 I’m so glad I came across this, grateful for all the resources you provide. Xo
Beautiful Zoe.