Dear Community:
As we head into this holiday season, I’ve been reflecting on our moment in time and both my own needs and the collective needs of our community of change makers. Lately, every room I walk into, every person I connect and reconnect with tells me how tired they are. The cognitive load of this very full year has many of us feeling the ache of exhaustion. We may celebrate the wins we’ve wrestled, yet feel acutely weary as we confront the dejection and challenges inherent in the pursuit of justice. We may not even be able to fully see our wins or want to forge ahead.
If it is true that this isn’t a sprint, that this isn’t a marathon, that this is a relay race, this is the moment we pause and look to each other.
This is by design. Injustice doesn’t win, it just convinces enough of us of its inevitability. Injustice wants us to give up hope. As a result, many members of our community decide, for their own well-being, to stop fighting.
Holidays are a time filled with celebration and reflection, and it is important that as we do both, we hold two key truths. One, we deserve regeneration. We deserve joy. We deserve rest. Two, we cannot give up the fight for justice. And in order for us to hold both, to really understand that we can be tired and still persevere, we have to look to each other.
If it is true that this isn’t a sprint, that this isn’t a marathon, that this is a relay race, this is the moment we pause and look to each other. We figure out who can carry a baton and what leg they are most suited to carry it for, we pass it, and we rest. We really rest. We put down our phones. We put down our armor. We find our corner to power down.
We can only see the change that is possible when we see and care for each other.
This is important because it is vital we don’t stop running. Especially at this moment in time, when people throughout our community and the tech industry are realizing the power and importance of coming together and collectively using their voice to bring about change. We can only see the change that is possible when we see and care for each other.
Many years ago, I asked my Tio in Guatemala whether or not you share burdens with your family if it causes them pain. He said, “Mija, I’m not in the world you are in but one of the things I know — when you share pain, it’s just a little bit lighter and it means that when you share celebration — it is that much more joyful. We all deserve that joy.”
Let this moment be one of shared joy and pain, let us carry it together. Let us be angry at slow progress. Let us be grief-stricken at the losses. Let us be comforted by how many of us have and will continue to show up for each other. Let us celebrate just how much we’ve managed to accomplish with all of the odds stacked against us. Let us make sure the conditions we experience our country, our cities, and our workplaces do not continue a cycle of harm.
But most of all, let us remember: We are not done.
Happy Thanksgiving community,
Karla
CEO
