Letters to the "not yet here"

A heartfelt companion of the unpaved paths 

Dear Future Generation,

Recollection --- One

We are your ancestors. We love you and your bravery for keeping our ways alive. As the tunnel narrows the light becomes more focused. Be aware of which trade offs you allow in your life. Be aware of the lures and keep a strong vision on what is that must be protected.

We are life defending itself by keeping our ways alive. 

Maybe the way of harmonious living seems like a dream. But remember that dream is a memory. What once was is always there to retrieve. Remember that in our ways, soil is our source. Put your nose in the ground to retrieve the memory of that which you, we, are alive from. Our source.

Remember life hears you wherever you may be, despite the interferences. So speak to it. Give it thanks, ask it for strength, guidance, love. Life is generous with all of itself. Just remember you are it. You are the process. You carry Life. 

Recollection— Two:

We are here to ease your hardships. When walking becomes hard. When simply walking becomes hard because of the pulls and throws of the mechanized ways. These forces molding reality and directing Life’s willpower to feed the Machine. And that machine becoming stronger as it’s being fed. People sucked into it.

We know and feel for your hardship in standing whole to this ever-present colonization. We admire you. In our times, it used to be easier to simply live our ways. It used to be easier to ensure the connection was nurtured. But you are here because you can. We believe you can. Keep true to the essence of your ways. As you walk, keep transferring the weight to us. The blocks. We will do the rest of processing. Remember, we are fed by your remembering of us. We will ease your heart.

- by Sevghi Haider

For the Next Generation, Con Amor

To my daughter and the generations to come: 

Dreams in your eyes,
Wisdom on your lips,
Hope in your hands.
You are the prayers of the ancestors,
Forging your own path.

El camino es tuyo.

Protected by stars,
Guided by the moon,
Past, present, and future in your grasp.

My child, in your arms, you hold the world 
The world will hold you back. 

- by Barbara Saldana

Dear future kinship builders

My dear, beloved future kinship builders,

I write to let you know how grateful I am that you exist. I write to summon you. You, who have built families outside the nuclear structure, you, our descendants, you champions of abundant love. Thank you for showing us that another way is possible. 

I see you, enacting the labor of loving in choiceful ways amongst all your relations, blood and nonblood, romantic and platonic, young and old, across abilities and neurotypes, in homes you share and homes you don’t, on land you tend, taking only what you need and giving back in turn. 

I see you, owning your desires for relating and exploring them with curiosity, letting them unfold across your lifetimes, taking shape, making and unmaking. I see you, communicating with truthful intent, building together and dissolving when needed. I see you tending to conflict, honouring the wisdom seeds inside of it and nourishing them with courage and conviction. I see you, messy and learning every day to love more fiercely. I see you, building structures of relating that allow sovereignty to bloom.

You have unraveled scripts that privileged heteronormative, isolated nuclear models that served no one except the insatiable drives of the capital state. We, your ancestors, suffered from the hegemony of the nuclear family. It separated us from one another; it served to uphold a state concerned with extracting but not loving, ordaining violence and production at the expense of right relationship with land and kin. The state upheld a narrow notion of family that served its own interests, cultivating conditions for abuse and disempowerment inside family systems, then punished us for how we tried to survive beyond them. We were taught a fantasy of love that limited us. Even those who “succeeded” in this model were often lonely or buried too deep under the labor of living to see each other clearly or help each other grow.

You grapple still, with this history; I see this too. You continue to grieve and honour us, honour our resistance, the seeds of love we planted so you could bloom. This is the way, and you do it together. I see you gathering in big, colourful rooms, moving, keening, shouting your joy at what has been transformed as you lay flowers on the altars of what was lost in the remaking. You mourn those who did not survive the hopelessness even as you cultivate hope. 

Hope is alive in your kinship structures. You do not deny the realities of living. You recognize that everyone you love you lose, in body but not in spirit. For you, relationships are not a place in which to hide. You have taken your agency back. You recognize that love is a renewable resource, and your relationships are stronger for it. You take care of each other. “Falling in love” can mean anything, if you see love in all things. 

I see you. I dream you into being. 

With love and reverence,

Your ancestor,

Gabriela Kassel Gomez

Gratitude to the work of Mia birdsong, Eman Abdelhadi, M E O'Brien, adrienne maree brown, Autumn Brown, and Becky Chambers for inspiration.

A complicated love letter to future community leaders

A love letter to future non-profit organization leaders and movement leaders

I start this love letter with an admission of collective guilt and failing. 

We have failed you, as a society, in so many ways.  

We have failed to elect progressive leaders in the U.S. and in Canada.  We have failed to make substantial progress on climate change initiatives.  We have failed to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.  We have failed to prevent human rights atrocities in other countries. We have failed to provide adequate housing, healthcare and education to our communities.  We have failed our Indigenous communities - repeatedly. We have failed to ensure adequate funding to your organizations, and sufficient grassroots support for your movements.

Many have cheated on you, and have done it over and over again.  Even people who said that they would have your backs?  Yes, they screwed you over.

But I am writing this letter to reassure you that millions of us have been there with you every step of the way, and will continue to be by your side as you fight the good fights.

We have donated hours of our time to your local, regional and national organizations.  We have stepped into leadership roles alongside you.  We have raised funds and donated our own money.  We have built and sustained mutual aid networks.  We have written petitions, showed up at the protests, and voted intentionally.  We have carried the banners, made the coffee, taken the minutes, balanced the budgets, hired the new leaders, submitted the briefs…all in the name of love for our communities. 

You are not alone.

There are millions of people who love you and who love the work that you do, daily.  

We love how feisty and defiant you are.  We love that you get up every day with a smile on your face and mobilize people who never would have gotten out of bed that day, or opened that email without your encouragement.  We love the creativity and resilience that you bring, even when the going gets tough.  We love the defiance and resistance that you manifest, and how you refuse to take no for an answer.  We love that you refuse to accept bullshit from within our communities. We love that you have built a big boat - welcoming in people from all walks of life to fight for social, environmental, and racial justice.  

We love you and we want you to be happy and well.  

So take a moment for yourself today, Valentine’s Day - and each and every day - to do something loving and kind for yourself and people around you who are also in leadership positions.  It’s a long game and we need to pace ourselves.  Rest is radical.  Hope is our currency.  

Love is our renewable energy.

- by Marlo Turner Ritchie (she/elle)