What Comes After Triage?

On May 2, 2026, our office filled up with exactly the kind of people we hoped would show up when we started Bagel Saturday.

Community organizers. A potential political candidate. A member of Twin Cities Singing Resistance. Folks who even braved the great geographical divide and crossed the river from Saint Paul to join us. We shared coffee, bagels, and conversations that felt both deeply necessary and long overdue.

The theme that emerged was one many of us have been carrying for months: exhaustion.

The surge demanded triage. It demanded immediate action, rapid response, and showing up wherever and however we could. Many of us spent months putting out fires, solving urgent problems, feeding people, housing people, connecting resources, and trying to keep our neighbors safe.

But what happens after triage?

What happens when the immediate crisis settles and we are left asking bigger questions about sustainability, participation, and purpose?

That is where our conversation landed.

We talked honestly about burnout and uncertainty; about the challenge of figuring out how to continue contributing without sacrificing ourselves in the process. We shared ideas about the work we want to be doing, the communities we want to build, and the ways we can support one another moving forward.

Nobody arrived with a five-point plan. Nobody left with all the answers. What we left with was something better: a reminder that we do not have to figure it out alone.

We also had the invaluable assistance of a three-year-old dressed as an elephant, who helped color a community poster and generally reminded everyone that joy remains a critical part of building a movement worth sustaining.

As often happens at Bagel Saturday, the conversation ran long. We wrapped up about an hour later than planned because nobody was quite ready to leave. Then, something even better happened.

A handful of us voluntarily reconvened later that evening at the Drinkin' Spelling Bee in Northeast Minneapolis at the 331 Club. What followed is probably best left out of a professional law firm blog, but suffice it to say that by the end of the night a campaign video had been recorded, a potential candidate had found a campaign manager, and several new friendships had been cemented.

None of that was on the agenda, none of it was planned, and yet it may have been the most important part of the day. Community is not just showing up to meetings. It is not just attending events. It is not just exchanging ideas.

Community is what happens when people decide they want to keep spending time together after the formal gathering ends.

It is discovering that the person sitting across from you at a bagel table may become your collaborator, your volunteer, your organizer, your campaign manager, your friend, or simply someone who reminds you that you are not carrying all of this alone.

At Lotus Legal, we are proud of the work we do for our clients. But we are equally proud of the role we can play in creating spaces where neighbors find each other.

The law matters. Policy matters. Elections matter.

But relationships are what make all of those things possible.

That is what we saw on May 2.

A room full of people asking how they can continue showing up for their neighbors. A room full of people sharing ideas, resources, frustrations, and hope. A room full of people choosing connection over isolation.

This is what community looks like.

And it is exactly why we keep making (and by making... I mean picking up) the bagels.