Invitation for Letters From Elders

On November 10th 2016, the day after the election I sent out the following letter to people who I would identify as elders. Those people with wisdom, who have thoughtfully maintained connection and dedication to, as Grace Lee Boggs says, “growing our souls.” I have met these people through my activism and through interviews I conducted for my upcoming book, Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice. As I begin to receive letters, I will post them under the tag: Elder Letters To Us All

Dear Elders,

I am reaching out to you in a time of a fear. I’ve been sitting in and observing my own fear, my own intense feelings of vulnerability today. I sat down to write a blog post about how this vulnerability is essential to touch, hear, feel because underneath lies my strength. I found myself wondering how each of you are handling your own feelings of vulnerability, fear or anger? What truths are you grounding yourself to, in anticipation of this significant political shift? How are you staying tethered to love?

With so few distinct elder roles in movements, I’m realizing how much we all need to hear wisdom from each other. How much we need thoughtful perspectives from those who have engaged in a desire for a more just world over many years or even decades.

Many of you have been able to sustain doing this work because you’ve created tools and practices and the faith which has allowed you to weather a lot. So, I thought I’d reach out and ask if any of you are interested in sharing advice, thoughts, U-tube videos, readings, jokes, perspectives, poems and/or truths that are speaking to you at this moment. With your permission, I’d like to do a series of “Elder Letters to Us All” which would be posted on my blog (http://www.selfcareforsocialjustice.com/), on the two-thirds of the planet website (http://www.twothirdsoftheplanet.com/) and hopefully other websites which may be interested.

I am consciously in touch with my own strength and yet at the same time I feel like I could so easily falter into despair. Community is one tool I’ve developed to help me not falter. So I humbly ask if you have time and space and anything to share that you’d consider this request.

If other elders who may be interested come to mind, feel free to pass this on along with my email.

With much love and respect,

Naomi Ortiz