As we find ourselves nearly halfway through 2022, it can be easy to look back on the past few years and focus on everything that has made life difficult: an ongoing pandemic, political division, and global conflicts. While these are important issues to address, I find so many reasons to be filled with hope amid the chaos—and nearly all of those reasons are connected to public servants.
I find hope when I think about the teachers who continue to devote themselves to helping students become critical thinkers and thoughtful citizens.
I find hope when I think about the public works employees who show up, rain or shine, to keep our streets usable, our water clean, and our green spaces beautiful, day in and day out.
I find hope when I think about all of the volunteers who go out into their communities to help their neighbors, allowing us to come together to protect ourselves and others against COVID-19.
I find hope when I think about the community organizers working together to provide food for our neighbors, create access to books for children across the city, build safe spaces for expectant mothers of all races and backgrounds, and champion equality for all communities, working insistently towards a better city for all.
I find hope when I think about City and County staff and elected leaders who continue to bring important issues to the table to address systemic racism, inequitable access to resources, and other issues affecting our communities daily.
It’s easy to get caught up in the negative, but when I do, I try to remember all of the people working in public and nonprofit organizations and in their own neighborhoods to make our city just a little bit better, one day at a time.
We can’t solve anything overnight, but we can continue to show up every day to make a little bit of progress in our corner of the world—and that’s what I celebrate.
The first week of May was Public Service Recognition Week, but why not celebrate all month long? I hope that today, and next week, and next month, you find hope.