If you happen to need someone to talk to or just an ear to listen, feel free to reach out. I hear you and I see you. I am with you.
The best feeling in the world is when you can make someone smile.
IS THIS RAGE?
Sadly, this week I have spoken to several friends and coworkers of color and I cannot bring them to smile. And to be clear, my Black friends and coworkers.
They are filled with deep sadness and anger. I am filled with deep sadness and anger for them, for myself and for those that question why they, their family and those that look like them don’t belong.
The answer is – YOU DO BELONG! People of color. People of diversity. People of inclusion. People of social justice. People of what is right. People who use their voice. People who use their voice to call out wrong when they see it.
America is a majority of minority groups. We are a majority of people that seek to understand and love each other. In times of suffering and loss that impacts one minority group – we forget that we are all in this together. The man who experienced hate today may not look like you, but tomorrow she will.
Last year brown people of every Latin background had their citizenship questioned in neighborhoods they had spent their entire life. Last month there was a 30-year old Asian man dragged off a NYC subway as a result of a hate crime. Last week a trans person was murdered as a result of a hate crime. This week there was another unarmed black life lost. What’s stopping tomorrow directly impacting you or someone you care for?
LOOK IN THE MIRROR
I’m a gay male and can’t remember a day I wasn’t. I think this is the reason I never felt it described my sexuality, but instead my identity.
Early on I knew I was different, and if I hadn’t then the bullying f(l)agged it loud and clear.
When I look back, I remember the times I didn’t use my voice. I felt backed in a corner. For a moment I felt alone, I felt I didn’t belong, I felt it would never get any better. And, the next thing I knew, there was someone by myside. Like a superhero in a cape she came to my rescue right in time.
Most of these years my closest friends were girls. And when I would experience bullying, they were always the first ones to use their voice as teachers or onlookers stood silent or pretended not to hear. She spoke up with confidence. She spoke up because I couldn’t. And, she spoke up because it was the right thing to do.
I reflect now and realize I spent a lot of time to myself not in pity and depression. But thinking why would someone who I didn’t know have so much hate? Fortunately, for me it allowed me to learn a lot about myself and develop and expand my emotional intelligence at a young age.
OUR VOICES TOGETHER ARE STRONGER THAN HATE
Having a high emotional intelligence (EQ) allows you to understand and manage your emotions in positive ways to relieve stress and communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.
Can EQ erase memories of homophobia? No. Can EQ erase hate and racism? No. Can EQ breathe air back into lives unjustly and senselessly taken from us? No.
Instead, what EQ can do is help give a voice to those that feel they can’t use theirs.
EQ can help those who are afraid to speak up and use their voice. EQ can help those that can’t relate to a hate crime, discrimination or social injustice understand that social injustice to your neighbor is social injustice to you.
IT'S TIME TO JOIN THE MAJORITY – THE NEW MAJORITY.
There are more people in the world that care about each other than those that seek to divide and spew hate. In you need a reference, just look at the number of individual votes in the last election for validation.
It’s time today, tomorrow and the days that follow throughout your life to use your voice and speak on what is right.