What can you bring to the table?

Sometimes, as a freelancer, Thanksgiving can feel like a famine for one.

We face limited access to benefits, no safety net, excessive taxation, client nonpayment, and unsteady income streams.

It’s a poor setting for a workforce rich in creativity, ingenuity, and motivation. But, the truth is, we’re not at a table for one. We’re sitting at a vast communal table of almost 54 million workers.

And, between us, we have the ingredients for something better.

This Thanksgiving, let’s make the choice to bring something to the table.

Whether it’s sharing a nonpayment story to support the #FreelanceIsntFree campaign, offering a fellow freelancer advice in Hives, or attending a local Spark event just to shake some hands, I challenge you to join the conversation.

When we come together in solidarity, we create more abundance for all. It’s here, in that little crack of light, that I find grace. Do you?

_Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.

Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table._

- Te Deum, Charles Reznikoff

A new soul and media geek, Laura writes about sustainability, community, poetry and pop culture. Find her @Pennyscientist or on Freelancers Union.