On Exclusion...

This past Friday morning, I woke up at 05:05 (as usual), got ready for my morning workout, and - for the first time - took my son with me.

He had gone to bed at 19:30 the night before which was my condition for him to join my morning workout the next day.

We got to my gym and worked out. It was fun as we also got to talk a lot.

I shared with him that it was International Women's Day... of course he asked "Is there also a men's day?".

My response: "No, there is not." To which he responded: "This is unfair... why is there a women's day and no men's day?"

It's great when kids ask these questions... every question becomes an opportunity to teach and share with them the context for the world we live in.

So I started to share with him how women were and still are in many cases excluded from having equal opportunities.

It sounded strange to him as his mom, both of his grandmothers, and all of his aunts are all very strong women. They are all well educated, they all work, they all contribute in so many wonderful ways to their families and to society.

Looking at his own generation he also could not fathom that women were at any disadvantage.

In his year group, many of the girls are among the top students. His own sister was the top student in all of years 1 - 6 at their school just a few months ago.

Sharing the history of the women's movement made him understand and appreciate that day.

Hearing that even today, girls in some countries are not allowed to go to school, or are married at a very young age, and do not have the same rights as boys made him very sad.

After digesting what he had just learned, he asked me a wonderful followup question: "Baba... there are not only women that are excluded from equal opportunity. The same applies to many other people e.g. not all kids can go to the same school as I do because their parents do not have the money to pay for it."

As a coach, I love it when people I interact with, immediately pick up something and build on top of it.

I have been very blessed that all three of my kids not only have a high IQ but also a high EQ. They can grasp concepts very quickly and have a special radar for anything that is unfair - based on their understanding.

By this time, we were done with our workout and we decided to continue our conversation over breakfast.

While I was cooking for him, I shared with him my view of the world and how so many people - the vast majority of humanity - is less fortunate than we are.

Yes, both my wife and I work a lot. We have put a lot of energy over many years into building the life we have today, which paves the way for our kids.

But our success is not purely our own achievement... Both of us have been very lucky with the families we were born into. Our parents have been essential to everything we have achieved and everything we will achieve in the future.

To this day, they have our back... When our kids are sick and can't go to school they take care of them so that my wife and I can go work. When I need advice regarding a challenge at work, I can always count on both of my parents to make time and actually listen to me.

Our parents have done a lot so that neither my wife nor I are excluded from having equal opportunities. And yes, we have done that too.

When we look at the fight that women have put up over the past century, then we know that it will take many more years if not decades until we create equal opportunities for all people around the globe.

Warren Buffett coined the term 'ovarian lottery'. He states: "The womb from which you emerge determines your fate to an enormous degree for most of the seven billion people in the world. Just in my own case: I was born in 1930, I had two sisters that have every bit the intelligence that I had, have every bit the drive, but they didn’t have the same opportunities."

In short, "if I had been a female, my life would have been entirely different."

In the video above, he takes that concept beyond the gender gap. He talks about how people in different nations, of different color, and with disabilities are today excluded from equal opportunities.

Today, we see people being excluded all over the world... As a global society, we even fail to agree on human rights applying to every human - independent from their skin color, religion, or nationality. Just look at what is happening in Gaza in front of our eyes.

If we want a better world for our children, we have to aim for a better world for all children.

We cannot and should not apply double standards based on people not looking, not speaking, not praying, or not loving like we do.

We need to include all fellow humans and not allow politicians create an 'us vs. them' mentality.

We need to fight any form of exclusion... starting with the gender gap which puts 50% of humanity at a disadvantage and then continue to fight for all sorts of other groups that are currently being excluded.

That same Friday morning, I drove all three of my kids to school. My son told his sisters about International Women's Day and why it was created.

Of course his older sister knew many of the facts about it as they had covered the subject in school already... but the younger one listened carefully.

When we arrived at school, we all stepped out of the car, the kids grabbed their backpacks and I hugged each one of them.

I gave my youngest daughter a kiss and said: "I will make sure that you always have the same opportunities as all of these boys here."

She looked at me with her big eyes and said: "Baba... don't worry about me. In my class it's the girls that run the show!"

I had to laugh... After all, a century of women fighting for equal opportunities has made a difference.

We might not be moving as fast as we wish, but we are making progress. Step by step we pave the way for future generations. The more people join this fight, the faster we will make progress.

#FromNothingComesNothing