Resiliency in Building Bridges

I know a lot of wonderful entrepreneurs and leaders in the construction industry. I’m using the metaphor of building bridges here because there are things we can do as humans to create stronger relationships despite difficult issues and times. There are also, sadly, individuals and institutions that will do whatever it takes to destroy whatever bridges we can build.

I’m going to take you on my personal journey. I am aware that it can be difficult for some to face the reality, but it’s important to understand that what is actually happening on the ground does not match or align with your imagination or the news feeds you watch.

As a Palestinian-American who has worked all my life to ensure bridges are being built, I’m fascinated to hear how some people want to shut those bridges down. What I mean by that is this: you don’t have to tell me to be quiet, but I can tell that you want me to be quiet when I speak of it.

I share that with you because throughout your personal journey, you’re going to face difficult choices. Growing up in the Palestinian culture, the reality that I lived in was always to be quiet and not say anything about the pain you may experience because others have just as much pain, if not more. And that culture is still embedded in me today.

This is the same culture that tells me to give, even when I have nothing. To give when I’m needing to pay for my own food — to give when I really need to eat but someone may be more hungry. So I share that piece of bread with them or let them have it and are happy for them, and happy for me, and never to show any pain it may entail.

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to do that all my life. Whether I was sleeping in a Mosque, or was homeless/on the streets, sharing what I had when I had money, and sharing more than I should have to even stay alive.

I also learned, as an American, that you have to speak up sometimes when things are just not right. And there are things today that are not right — what’s happening to the community I come from and in which I grew up. The world needs to hear it.

I understand that it might make you feel uncomfortable.

I continue to live uncomfortably today, seeing what is happening and being unable to change it. It’s not going to continue, because something will change. The one thing that will change is more and more of you will become uncomfortable, until — together — we fix the challenges we face.

We must stay resilient to stay on top of it.

Resiliency may change or shift from one person to another. Struggling for most of my life to become a citizen or carry a document that allowed me to travel or be acknowledged as a human being, I completely understand what it means to be stateless, homeless, to have no food, no water, no electricity. I am also familiar with having someone intentionally going after ever single move of yours — trying to kill or eliminate you.

That is not a thought or idea — it is the reality of what is happening on the ground. We have to stand up and say something. We have to stand up and do something.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

How can you change yourself to accept the reality of what is happening versus the “spin” of your news feeds?

What have you done to cope with the reality of what you see rather than the dreams you have had?

What other tools have you used to stay resilient and keep moving forward?

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Faris Alami is Founder and CEO of International Strategic Management, Inc. (ISM). He works internationally, presenting Exploring Entrepreneurship Workshops and other entrepreneurial ecosystem — related ventures.