Inaction is no longer an option

This past week we have seen thousands upon thousand Americans take a stand against systemic oppression and vocalise their pain. The suffering of our black community members have gone on for way too long and there is an urgent need to have an honest dialog to find the path forward. There is a lot of anger, angst as well as determination to help impacted members as well as modify laws so that all of us feel safe in the pursuit of ‘freedom and happiness’.

Though I am not a member of the black community, I am a member of the colored community and have been feeling the impact of the recent events. As an immigrant to this country, I have both witnessed and experienced first hand the bias in some ways though nothing as close to what our black community members are experiencing. I understand that there is good and bad in all walks of life and have chosen to focus on the good. With my ‘glass is half full’ attitude I feel that I have failed to do my part to remedy the situation. I have let things slide, stood on the sidelines and allowed the people who acted on their biases to continue unchecked. To be completely honest I have been biased too, mostly towards myself. Being a first generation immigrant I always believed that I need to work twice as hard as the next person and have passed on the same message to my kids. Is this the right thing to do? I don't know if it is, what I do know is that I acted out of ‘wanting the best’ for my kids and ‘wanting to protect’ them. Have I implicitly implied to my kids that they are not enough and need to double up on their efforts? Time will tell, but I hope that they will understand where I came from.

Yesterday I attended a webcast held by PwC US Sr. Partner Tim Ryan where he talked about the concrete steps the company was taking to make a change. His empathy and genuine care rattled me to the core. It made me realize that we all have the power to make an impact however small it may be, within our powers of influence and need to commit to action. Simply put - Inaction is no longer an option and the time for half measure is over !

Looking inward I realized that I need to pull forth something I have thought about for a long time as a post retirement project and expedite the timelines given the need of the hour. I am most passionate about having conversations with elementary and middle school kids about bias - both conscious and unconscious. It is my intent to partner with like minded individuals within the community to formulate our collective thoughts and reach out to the right authorities to start this conversation. I am not a trained educator nor am I a policymaker; what I am is a parent, a member of the society who wants to make a difference. I know that we will make mistakes and hit roadblocks during this journey; with willing collaborators we will make a differnce.

My ask of each and every one of you is to find your calling and act on it. You don't have to go it alone, reach out to people seeking guidance and collaboration. With each one of us committing to putting our time, energy and passion into addressing the challenges we are facing, the benefits will be far reaching both to you and our society.

We all need to ask ourselves - what am I doing to change the world we live in? We all have the power to make a difference, please find it within yourselves to act on it.