Finding Grace

I joined the One Circle Foundation team at a time of much transition and fear. Mid-2020 was the height of the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent riots, and our beloved OCF founders- Beth Hossfeld and Giovanna Taormina -stepping away from their roles in the company.

Yet for how much turmoil and insecurity there was about the future, one space of stability, of composure, and grace emerged for me: Our online Zoom trainings.

It seems strange, I’m sure, to say that a Zoom meeting could be a place of refuge to someone. But truly, in those times two years ago, and even recently, this is what it felt like.

Sometimes it can feel, now more than ever especially, that neighbors are slowly becoming political enemies, that crowded areas are becoming too dangerous to be in, and that the moral bonds holding our society together are quickly fraying. In short, sometimes it feels like whatever forces of good exist in the world are on their last leg.

This feeling begins to lift in me when I’m in a Boys Council or Girls Circle training.

There is a unique sentiment in sharing space with others- previously unknown people -from drastically distant parts of the country, and realizing we shared the same experiences as children or even as adults. For many people, revisiting their adolescence can be a painful task, yet that is precisely what we ask of participants when they attend one of our trainings. It is a moment designed to open us up to compassion and sympathy for the very children we work with, and help us with realizing that so many children out there, many in juvenile justice systems or already on the path there, are not that different from us- maybe just in different circumstances. It’s also a reminder that the adults around us, who share different ideas, cultures, and opinions, were kids themselves too at one point. 

Witnessing these moments of acceptance and grace in our participants, who continue to put the work into themselves so they can help others struggling, has been a privilege. It reminds me that there are still so many people out there, right now, trying to do their best with what they have; people that wake up each day and refuse to stop fighting for what is good and just.