HOPE

You’ll remember, or not , when COVID_19 came to town and turned the little that wasn’t, completely upside-down. What was, it made worse, and even the sane and the sorted, smug privilege aborted, when they were confronted with their tenuous mortality, confounded by the ‘irrational’ threat of a shifted reality. How it became clear, that what was held dear, was the personal, in the interest of egocentricity. That when a group dynamic was what it took, individualism and individual rights would no common answer brook. Pleaded concern for those in the end, who would lose, as if that loss somehow bigger than yours, its importance of course, from bottom-line profits deduce. When coin was king, and only fealty to the king, would coin and its benefits bring. And since COVID_19, the heroes with clay feet, the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the forgetful nature of the guilt-free corrupt , all features of the scene littered with the morally bankrupt. The impoverished and indigent ones a riling irritation, a constant reminder of a vulnerable station. The answers found in charity, to address inequality and disparity. Begrudging even in the giving, requiring motivation and justifying. Nobly speak of what is done - that anybody raised by a grandmother knows is frowned upon. And anybody in the know realises - there’s few to whom these things are surprises - the doing seems more and more like it’s slowing, and the need and the desperation the only things growing. But prioritise now the concern of the threatened, as if those long beyond threat, lest we forget, only needs concern when noticed and mentioned. As we stare an uncertain future in the face, I am grateful for - in my life - the evidence of grace. The happy find of healthy leadership, the expertise and skills of those in caring kinship, and the impactful, effective difference, that comes from assistance not interference. In communion with those, who would the knowledge of their lives as their contribution propose. And how coming on-purpose as a team, draws to us those for whom initiative, creativity and sustainability is the dream Called people, living and leading with their hearts, uplifting, supporting, practicing the nobler arts. Making most of the little whilst trying for more, conscious of what lacks now from a faulted before. Acknowledge that most people don’t need telling what to do, they need the opportunities to show they know how to. Uncertain is the certain about tomorrow’s manifestation, the consequences of a pandemic exacerbating the worst in a nation, a people reft of foundation, assistance and aid subject to obligation, project and initiative open to distortion and manipulation. At AJF we like to say, it is in our nature to ‘make a way’. Find the leaders, those in service where they lead. Support the vulnerable, acknowledge they know best the extent and implications of the need. Find our own drive and agenda fulfilled, as we partner with those whose dreaming and visioning is for the community they build. Striving for a better us, us but better -the fruits of commitment, the care for our own, the sharing of an instinct within us shown - to the letter. That it is not about any individual sister or brother, but an approach that align us with each other It has grown from being our hope, from responding and learning to cope - to become a drive, something towards which we strive, where we push to arrive : A better way of being alive Become a reason to get up for, this being an AJF Ambassador SP