This Week's Opening Thought: November 28, 2023

This week's (late) opening thought: I've gotten so few compliments and affirmations for my work in workplaces over the past decade that it feels like a set-up when I do get them. Like, I'm not on a hunt for kudos, but it does affect a person when all you receive is negativity while watching people of pallor and folx in the sunken place are treated like "model employees" while doing immeasurable harm.

I've gotten yelled at, mistreated, disregarded, "coached," complained about, written up, and separated from employment so many times for just existing and trying my damndest every day to mitigate harm to others that when someone tells me they think I'm doing a good job? I'm waiting for the "but."

For years, my body and brain felt like they were in constant danger at work. I'm doing much better now, but real talk? I do a decent job of maintaining, but I have lapsed into that trauma state of mind way more than I'd like, depending on the day and circumstances. If it weren't for therapy, exercise, and mindfulness, I'd be a f---g mess. How do I know this?

Until a few years ago, I was two steps away from being a f---g mess. All the time.

Workplace trauma is real, y'all.

I know from experience.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 13, 2023

This week's opening thought: Some of y’all have genuinely shown how devoid you are of humanity, global compassion, and empathy over the past few years, haven't y'all? I mean, damn. A global pandemic, multiple boiling points coming to a head around centuries of racism, white supremacy, and hate in the United States, and countless lives lost to war, disease, hatred, and oppression, and some of y’all are still out here playin’ devil’s advocate or sharing toxic “hot takes” with no regard for who you harm or disregard as valid and human.

If, after enduring almost five years of collective and individual harm and trauma and watching as people in your communities, workplaces, and across the globe are enduring extreme trauma and strife, you can’t find an ounce of compassion for others and empathize with how hard things are for so many people without caveats or quips about how your “views” on local and global matters as a “good person” are more valid or how you don’t have privilege and your experiences mean more than those of others?

You’re proof positive that empathy, compassion, and decency are not inherent but learned.

And please believe that this is not a “white people thing.” Some of y’all are out here highly melanated and highly problematic.

It’s not that hard to care about the lives and trials of others, but some of y’all act like it’s akin to doing Calculus while dodging arrows on a tightrope.

This Week's Opening Thought: October 23, 2023

This week's opening thought: Remember to take a moment today to remind yourself of how awesome, valuable, and splendid you are. Why?

Because you are all of the above, silly.

You're all the abovementioned and then some.

I know the world is heavy right now. The exposure to the pains and traumas all around us is heavy. Life can feel so heavy. The traumas so many of us are enduring right now are extremely heavy. But none of that weight diminishes the fact that you deserve love and horn-tooting. You deserve to love yourself and show yourself that love every chance you get. And that love deserves to extend to every part of you.

Every nook and cranny.

You're a biscuit, baby. Butter yourself up.

This Week's Opening Thought: October 9, 2023

This week's opening thought: Much love to my Native and Indigenous friends, family, and colleagues on Indigenous People's Day. Y'all matter, your heritage and stewardship matter, and I see y'all.

Remember white people: you can't discover something that was already there and inhabited by people for thousands of years before yo' asses popped up.

Also, Columbus was a [redacted] jive [redacted] turkey. End of discussion.

This Week's Opening Thought: October 2, 2023

This week's opening thought: I went to use the restroom while waiting for my flight out of Chicago and back to Portland (my wife and I took a much-needed long weekend trip) and encountered a gentleman in the middle of a phone call. He was standing at a urinal, Bluetooth in his ear, deeply involved in a work-related conversation while, I assume, trying to take a standing piss.

While catching this spectacle, the only thing that came to mind was there was something in this person’s work history that made him think he was not allowed the option or opportunity to take a bathroom break. Seeing that he was a person of culture, I can't imagine the experiences that led to the perceived understanding that his bladder and physical relief are significantly less important than a work call. I know the weight of working in white workplaces, in overwhelmingly white professions, and how deep the wounds it inflicts on your identities and self-worth are. I’m fortunate enough to be healing from my experiences, but I know so many people of culture aren’t as fortunate or have yet to embark on that journey. Some never will. I do not judge them, because no one’s journey in life is a carbon copy of someone else’s, but my heart hurts for them.

He left the bathroom before me, sharing one of those work-related jokes many people of culture have been conditioned to tell so our white “colleagues” deem us “safe” and palatable. I’m not a religious man, but I said a little prayer for homeboy’s safe travels and a safer employment situation. I also hoped he has a safe place at home where he doesn't have to be on like this and can prioritize his bladder over a spreadsheet.

Ain’t no job worth your soul, your identities, your self-worth, or a multitasking situation at a urinal in a Chicago airport restroom.