The Work of the Whole with Lynette Diaz
"We need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.”
~Glennon Doyle
Hello again, Beloved Mend Community!
Oh, how quickly things shift and swirl and undulate and change in this time of Covid-19.
Since the last time I shared with you, so much of the landscape has altered.
My own paid work situation - like many of you right now - has become uncertain. Which is not to say, please don’t hear it this way - my life & wellbeing & ability for my family to meet our basic needs has become tennous. No. My family is blessed enough to have fishing poles in several small ponds, so to speak, so we are fine.
But, in so many respects - in my own life and in the lives of those around me - the playing field has opened wide.
The parameters are unknown.
I don’t know what the world will look like when we are told it’s all right to step back into it.
I know that many of the former landmarks will have moved, fallen away, or been eviscerated in the wake of this crisis.
I don’t know how many of the people I know and love - who make their way in the world - and do their work - for a pittance of what they’re truly worth - and live humbly, paycheck to paycheck - I don’t know what awaits them at the end of this.
In this country where we are starting to learn that even in the midst of death and massive economic downfall for many - our politicians somehow managed to word into our so-called “relief” bill tax cuts and aid for the wealthy, while those at the lower escalon of the prosperity gap are left to go beggaring.
In this country, where many states are opting to move swiftly out of shelter-in-place orders simply because there’s no infrastructure to care for the people when the economy grinds to a halt. And we instead, opt to send people back to their labors - potentially exposing them to greater harm and risk - to themselves and their loved ones - rather than provide them a safety net of any sort so they can do the important work of helping to flatten the curve right now.
In what effing civilized society do we ask people to make that choice?
My conversation today is from way back when in 2019 - when I was still a plucky, young 37-year old, in fact, and just venturing into this topic of WORK. And I asked my friend, Lynette, to come on and talk to me about what she does in the world.
Lynette Diaz is a community services advocate, group facilitator and citizen activist. Influenced by the immigration and public service stories of her Cuban family, she has been called to the arena of civic education and engagement since a young age. In the last ten years, Lynette has focused her energy into the field of child welfare and family well-being. She has served in different roles for both public and non-profit agencies, and is a certified Bridges Out of Poverty trainer. Currently, she serves as a community services supervisor for an initiative promoting early interventions to families who are experiencing both health and social-economic challenges. She is working on her Master’s in Public Administration, with hopes of promoting change at the policy level.
Throughout her travels and various moves to different regions of the United States, Lynette has developed interests in local history, stories and cultural influences. She enjoys a good “walk and talk” phone conversation, living room dance parties, and roaming bookstores. She is motivated by a core value that humans are good simply because of our interconnectedness.
We sat down, lo these many months ago, to talk about how the macro and the micro intersect. How - as she turns her eyes toward policy making - and re-directing the systems that are in place so that they can begin to serve the people in our midst who are in such need - she also deeply values her time “on the ground floor”, so to speak. She reflected upon why it is so very valuable to build up a depth of relationship and experience first - with those whom you wish to serve - before you go into the more abstract world of policy.
Learn to serve in the here and now. Then build up your skills and influence as you go.
We discussed how the approach she takes inside of her work seeks not only to provide opportunities for the marginalized, but also tries to do the more difficult task of looking back a generation or two to see WHY the current trauma is unfolding this way.
We talked about what she does to catch herself before the Compassion Fatigue or burnout sets in. And what she does to remedy it. And we looked at the role of Mothering inside our current society - especially for those who have chosen not to biologically reproduce. How we can take those instincts to nurture, to transform, to caretake & to create - and unleash them in a powerful way inside the larger world.
We spoke briefly about what a fitting ritual or rite of passage look like - beyond just a little bump in pay (to which we’re not opposed, by the way) - to signal to someone that their contribution is of VALUE. And how we might begin to move toward that place.
Thank you Lynette - for taking the time to come speak with me. And for your enormous patience in seeing this interview come to light.
And THANK YOU:
All of you.
For doing the work - be that parenting, partnering, caretaking, community support, cheerleading, spearheading, delivery driving, grocery shelf stocking, mail delivering - and those serving on the front lines of this crisis - in whatever form - THANK YOU - for doing what you can - to step into the breach. And mend what is yours to care for.
This is for you.
May it be of benefit.