Guest Opinion: Hope for the holidays
BY JESSICA MALDONADO | Public affairs manager, PolicyWorks LLC
While I drive my 3-year-old son to preschool, we travel past houses with holiday decorations. On this day, in his toddler fascination with letters, he read H-O-P-E to me as we drove past the word in bright red letters in the yard of a house on the corner.
Trying to explain what the word means, I told him hope means having something to look forward to — the belief that something better is still ahead.
During the holiday season, hope has a very pure meaning for children. They look forward to Santa Claus coming, not necessarily for the presents he may bring, but because they believe magic still exists.
As an adult, hope can look a little different.
- I hope that my son knows the drive to preschool in the morning is one of the highlights of my day. I hope he knows dropping him off to leave for work is never easy.
- I hope he will be proud of me when he grows up. I hope that someday I will master the work-life balance of a working mom.
- I hope I will get past the guilt of missing things like his preschool Thanksgiving meal because of a conflict.
- I hope my own mom knows how much I now understand and appreciate everything she did.
It might be the season, but I do have hope that great things are on the horizon for women in the workforce.
I am thankful for a supportive employer (I may have missed the Thanksgiving party but made the pumpkin patch field trip), and I believe many organizations are getting behind their working mothers and all employees. Leaders like Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg taking paternity leave sends a message to all men and women in the workforce that finding balance is not only allowed, but it is encouraged.
Magic doesn’t happen overnight — Santa’s Christmas Eve deliveries excluded — but it does exist in the slow shift to a modern society that enables all working men and women to juggle their responsibilities at work and home, and to succeed in both places.
Jessica Maldonado is the public affairs manager for PolicyWorks, assisting clients with public affairs, advocacy efforts and events. Prior to joining PolicyWorks, she spent nearly 10 years at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Maldonado is a member of Lead Like a Lady, a 2013 graduate of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, serves on the Community Connect Mentor Council, is a member of Variety’s Polo on the Green committee, and is part of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs Gala Committee.
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