Tag: Equality

Merry #Christmas And A Happier New Year

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At the end of 2020 I got my wires crossed when answering a friend’s text. She had asked how I was feeling, and she felt my answer didn’t say enough (I wondered if, maybe she was going through something herself).

Anyway, I let her know I was doing okay and would catch up with her after Christmas. I reckoned there would be a break in the lockdown in 2021 and we could meet for a drink or something.  

That didn’t happen.

I don’t know whether my friend was feeling unwell in December 2020 when she texted, but she died with Covid mid-January 2021.

I felt numb when I got the news. Then I cried, because her death was so unfair, given her age.

This Christmas I’m thinking about her family and everyone else who has lost someone in 2021 (due to Covid or not).

I hope they are doing okay this Christmas.

I hope they will find the right words to celebrate their loved one’s life, even though they are absent from the table.

I hope they / we all have a happier new year.

( Photo by Any Lane from Pexels )

Helping Ourselves On #WorldMentalHealthDay

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Solving Problems Is Easier When We Act Together. (Picture credit Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels )

Today, of all days, it is worth saying that life without good mental health is hard.

From my experience, in the developed world, it can still feel dark, stressful, and overwhelming to struggle on alone.

In developed and developing nations stigma about mental health conditions can affect outcomes. In some countries and cultures mental health taboos can leave those issues to silently fester in the dark. People affected can hide their illness. It can feel their secret shame to bear alone.

Left untreated their illness can become more significant than it needed to be. That is bad news for their loved ones, their colleagues and everyone else affected.

So, to change those outcomes, wherever we live, tackling mental health issues needs to involve:

  • Recognising something is making our life more complicated than it needs be
  • Reaching out to professionals who are able to help
  • Staying in touch with good listeners amongst our family network and friendship circle
  • Being kind to ourselves

What has worked for you, or people you know?

Always worth remembering, wherever in the World we find ourselves, and whatever else is important in our lives, struggling alone is not a solution.

We are stronger together.

3 #Leadership Lessons From 3 Lions

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Last week, like 30 million others, I watched the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy.

England’s confident, diverse team had reached a major final after more than 50 years.

At the end of extra time, I watched 19-year-old Bukayo Saka step up.

His penalty would make the difference.

It did.

His shot was saved.

That result was painful, but Gareth Southgate and the rest of the team held each other up.

But some ‘supporters’ tried to tear them down.

Cue a wave of online racism.

Monkey Emojis.

The N word.

The usual crap.

Not the kind of thing anyone should ignore, whether it is obvious who is creating it, or hidden behind a screenname.

And that’s why Saka, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and their teammates take the knee. Despite the boos.

  • Because leaders set the tone for their teams.
  • Because drawing attention to a problem isn’t ‘gesture politics’.
  • Because the process of change is uncomfortable.

What Happens When We #ChooseToChallenge ?

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A Black Woman Working In A Laboratory
Picture credit CDC at Unsplash.Com : Women Work In Science Technology Engineering Mathematics

My Mum and Women like her lived through incredible times

During the late 1960s and early 1970s the Race Relations Act and the Equal Pay Act arrived.

Legislation meant that Black women could not be excluded from the job market by employers.

 Which meant access to greater job choice.

Jobs with prospects.

Jobs which paid Women equally for their labour.

These changes didn’t happen by chance. They didn’t make everything perfect.

They did come about because Women and Men chose to challenge inequality.

Great journeys begin with the first important step.

Happy International Women’s Day!

(Picture credit CDC at Unsplash.Com)

#BlackLivesMatter – They Always Have

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Photo From Shane Aldendorff from Pexels.com

Black Lives mattered in the 1960s when the sign my parents came up against when apartment hunting in London said ‘No Coloured. No Irish. No Dogs’.

They mattered in the 1970s when a member of the public could say they wanted to speak to a White member of staff, rather than my Dad (and have that ‘reasonable’ request honoured by management) .

They mattered in the 1980s when on a degree course someone could refer to a third party as a Black C*nt (and then add, ‘no offence mate’ when he saw I had heard what he said).

They mattered when George Floyd said to police officers, ‘I can’t breathe’ and called out for his mother.

These are different sized examples, some big some smaller in scale. They take place at different times, but all contain the same message: being from an ethnic minority means being less than equal, in some people’s eyes.

So here we are in 2020, still needing to take substantial steps to level society up. All because those steps were not taken 60, 50 or 40 years ago.

Here are some steps we can take to embed improvements in this generation:

  • Accept the principle that Black Lives Matter does not mean other lives don’t.
  • Agree there is enough equality to go around and that the inter section between ethnicity and any other personal characteristic matters too.
  • Act today to take personal responsibility for making one change in the world around us, which makes things better for everyone tomorrow.

What goal will you set yourself to make a difference? How will your actions show you are a leader when it comes to making change happen? You can comment below or Tweet @RogerD_Said if you prefer.