November 28, 2023
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Those We Hold Dear
by Ashley Prevost
My love for my children is among the strongest feelings I have known. My feelings of hope for their future, my worry, the laughter they bring, the frustrations, all of this adds up to a love I can’t fully quantify. I can’t express it in words. But I know that it is a love that drives much of what I do, and how I do it.
Because of my circumstances in life, a White, middle-class woman, I have been afforded a larger platform than many. It feels natural to me to use that platform to advance what is best for my children. But if I have a louder voice and I use it solely to advocate for mine and theirs, am I not working against community? By trying to grab up a piece of that proverbial pie, am I not reducing what’s available for my neighbor?
I recently heard someone say, “compassion isn’t a limited resource.” If that is true, which I believe it is, then it is also possible the type of love I feel for my children isn’t limited either. That roll up your sleeves and work kind-of-love. If I could apply that love universally, what then would my louder voice be saying?
That feels distant and hard but dreaming of a world where we all care about others the way we care about those we hold dearest feels like a dream worth working towards.
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.”
“To be human in an aching world is to know our dignity and become people who safeguard the dignity of everything around us. ”
