Well. So while I was wrestling alligators, fighting off polar bears, and manhandling monster trucks… I tripped and fell hard in my driveway. I’ve broken my left arm and bruised and sprained a few other things. For someone who has been busy with NDIS work driving to people’s homes this has been pretty inconvenient.

It did mean however, that I was unusually available for a short notice speaking opportunity today. One of the reasons my work crosses several areas is to help me stay afloat when encountering difficulties like this- I’m not much use as a gym buddy for one client right now, but I don’t need my left arm working to talk about diversity and vulnerability.

It’s a precious thing to be offered the floor in a space like that, an expression of trust and hope that you’ll help people find the words for what needs to be said. I’m home now, exhausted, pleased, strangely sad in that indefinable ‘post event’ way. I know the real work starts after I walk out the door, the challenge of holding safe spaces and integrating complexity.

I find myself so moved by our common ground, the similarities in our hopes and struggles to be human whether we are the most fortunate or most destitute. And how unaware we are of each other, but where the blindness of the poor makes little difference to the lives of the powerful, unawareness for the powerful builds the walls that exclude and create so much needless suffering. The burden of responsibility is so much higher, and our need for allies in those spaces is so great. I’m glad to play a small part in humanising people to each other. Our work in that space will never be finished, but I believe each moment counts.