Despite it all...

My son has had a brilliant year. He wouldn't tell you this of course. But my husband and I have spent many evenings catching each other's eye over his angelic little face and smiling.

We've come a long way and it's because of those who despite it all are so committed to making the lives of others better.

There is Jack his teacher aide who celebrated him and challenged him and made him feel like he mattered.

There is M and R his teachers at his new school. They are so patient with him but also they empower him and uplift him. They make him believe in his abilities while meeting him where he's at. But more than that - they laugh with him. They have private jokes with him and they genuinely seem to enjoy his company.

And all of this is thanks to his principal, who saw in him a child who deserved a community and an education when others simply saw a burden. I often think of the thousands of families she has welcomed into her community. How many have felt so nurtured and loved and cared for, maybe for the first time.

The belonging we feel in our new community is a wondrous thing. A continuation of the love and generosity of the principal and teachers at our last school. Surely we thought, we wouldn't be so lucky to have two communities so committed to ensuring our child feels the kinship and acceptance every child deserves?

And yet here we are. Despite it all....here we are.

My son told me out of nowhere that he wants to try acting class. He has not spoken to a child his age for a year and a half. Still...we try don't we? I emailed the company that ran classes he took six years ago - and the teacher and owner of the company remembered him. And was thrilled that he wanted to attend again.

Would he like to visit in advance she asked? See the space? Read the script ahead of time? Talk about the characters? How many thousands of children have benefited from her gentle care? Her commitment to inclusion? Her dedication to ensuring every child is truly welcome in her class?

Despite it all...She's still here doing this life-changing work. And it does change lives.

On the weekend I watched children speak to a crowd of thousands and thousands of people who stood together against transphobic hatred. The crowd cheered them as they stood and I watched in real time, as these brave kids saw that they're cherished and loved and celebrated by strangers.

They beamed. Their smiles reached ear-to-ear as the crowd shouted in jubilation for them. Every cheer reminding these wonderful kids that despite it all....despite whatever they read online or whatever cruel adult bullies shout at them, despite ugly politicians who use them as ammunition and small-minded people who blame them for their tiny miserable lives - they're protected, precious, sacred and beloved.

As the kids left the stage they were given hi-fives and back pats and hugs and they saw - this is real, this is what the world is really like. It's kind and despite it all, the majority of us want peace for everyone. We want children to be safe and cared for and adults to be secure and protected and able to be there for each other instead of fearing for their lives.

I was marching arm-in-arm with a mother and she said 'look' and we turned together to see the thousands and thousands marching together. I was overcome, I cried and cried knowing that it's true - we are strong. There's more people who care than don't. There's more people who are committed to loving and celebrating the breadth of humanity than those who seek to make us all small and lonely and miserable.

Love is a doing word.

Community isn't work but it takes effort. It takes commitment. I think some folks find it just so hard to be in community with others because it takes being selfless sometimes. And we live in a society that tries to make us feel like we're the most important. It rewards individualism, status, wealth-hoarding...

Despite it all, like a sprig emerging from a crack in the concrete, we keep going and growing.

I believe in us. Despite it all. I am happy. Despite it all. Because I know we are deeply connected, more similar than we are different, more capable of celebrating our difference than the minority want us to believe, more compassionate than politicians are counting on.

Liberation relies on community; there's no freedom for all without our commitment to each other.

Whenever I feel like it's just too hard, that there's just too many people who love to be cruel and far too many powerful people who are intent on making us all hate each other, I think about Jack, and M and R, and the principals, and the drama teachers, and the protestors, dreamers, activists, and idealists.

I think about Teirangi Klever, who in a public meeting with David Seymour faced screaming and furious bigots as she forced everyone there to recognise that a genocide is happening right now. I think of her bravery. And I think of the people in Belfast who have left notes for their neighbours saying 'you are welcome here' and 'we will protect you'.

I think of the woman who grabbed her nursing uniform as she fled her house in Belfast because she still wants to help the people who seek to harm her. No amount of hatred can remove her humanity.

Every day I am falling in love. With our community - again and again. With our humanity against all odds. With the people in it who inspire me and uplift me and remind me love is everything. With our future - a future that's more loving than the vision of individualism that they keep trying to force us to swallow.

Despite it all...fall in love with this life. Fall in love with each other and our ability to build a world where everyone belongs. The night is long but the sun will come up.

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