Here I am again, blogging about hope, or the lack of it. Often in this work we go through seasons where hope is scarce, or more accurately I guess that hope feels scarce. We struggle to find it. Yesterday as I was talking with one of my co-workers and our amazing gaggle of summer interns (gaggle seems appropriate because there are a lot of them, but they are truly an amazing gaggle) and as we were telling them stories I was thinking about what it really is that keeps me going. When hope seems non-existent, why do I continue to get out of bed everyday (even on the days it seems I just got in and I wake up to another terrible e-mail or text) and continue to do this work. Why do I continue to show up when some days it feels like it is all for nothing. After I told them a particularly heartbreaking story (and I do not use that word to sensationalize, this girl truly breaks my heart each and every time I think of her) it came to. I keep doing it because despite how much HOPE I have for her to have the future I want for her, she did not deserve anything that happened to her. Even if she never leads the life I dream of for her, or even the one she dreams for herself, there was still so much injustice done to her that I can call out and that maybe I can help protect her, and other girls like her, from those same injustices.
This is why we do this work. Yes, because we have hope! But we do it because of the times they relapse. Because they are revictimized. Because they runaway. We lean in, we love them, all the more when these things happen. Even when they feel they let us down, continuing to pursue them and give them grace. I will continue to pursue their hearts and pursue justice for them on their worst day.