Take Care of Your Neighbors

By Luna Palacios, 2025-26′ Loretto Justice Fellow

An old friend once told me that the price of community is inconvenience, that it takes time and asks us to think outside of ourselves. But what is community if not love? And what is love if not justice? And love is not an inconvenience. In the words of bell hooks, “Love is an act of will — we choose to love.”

This April was my last month at Abara. It’s been about eight months, during which I have not only understood the power of narrative, but I have also witnessed the impact it has on the community and how essential it is for the development of advocacy. These past months, I have witnessed the impact individualism has on the community. The laws keep changing, targeting and affecting the most vulnerable parts of our neighborhoods and communities. Headlines and news try to convince us that “I” is more important than “we,” and connecting, being someone’s neighbor, being someone’s villager, becomes a chore; where love and collectivism feel like interruption instead of a place of construction.

Revolutionary Love reminds us that listening to stories and sharing joy and pain are how we build the solidarity needed for collective liberation and transformation. What stays with me the most is recognizing one another with the mentality of “you are a part of me I do not yet know,” because yes, I recognize in you the joy I’ve experienced, but I also share with you the grief of what has been.

At Abara, I have learned that this recognition is where justice begins — in the quiet moments of listening, in the stories we choose to hold and in the love we decide to practice. If the price of community is inconvenience, then this work has taught me it is a price worth paying, because it is also where transformation begins.