Living As If We All Mattered: Kinship and Other Gifts in Community

ABSTRACT Living as if we all mattered in a society that does the opposite is an act of resistance. It builds resilience within communities, bringing gifts of relationality. Cathy and Chris are human service workers who aim to transcend the binary of practitioner/patient. Through dignity‐centred practice, they engage in the co‐construction of a refuge outside petro‐capitalism. To centre dignity is to decentre trauma and honour resistance against empire, which seeks to divide and distract. Resistance is a natural response that promotes survival. Their sharings however, drawn from Indigenous knowledge as well as learnings from ecology, extend beyond this sphere. They can also be applied to social justice in learning how to be a good relative and ancestor. Red Elk (2025) tells us that ‘forging healthy relations is essential for the success of future generations’. This includes not only human relations but also all life with whom we share the Earth. By living as if we all matter, we can undermine the forces of empire while building a better world.