As the historic events of the past few weeks unfold, the mindless violence, the looting the cruelty subjected to those who are protesting. The peaceful protesters from all walks of life, the passion in their eyes the chanting of humanity, peace and love. The humility and respect from the majority of police officers who have been keeping people safe. I decided to share 3 lessons my kids created during a home schooling lesson last week.
Lesson 1 Everyone is human and should be respected irrelevant of who they are what they believe in and what
they have done.
The last few weeks I have been talking to my kids about the importance of kindness and looking beyond peoples origins, skin colour and what they wear. I talk them through what happened to George Floyd including the fact he wasn’t a model citizens of society, yet he was human and should not have been subject to such cruelty in his last hour of his life. We made up a card game called injustice where we had to decide if a story was fair or in just.
Lesson 2 It matters a lot, no matter how trivial do not accept it, share it and solve it.
I have never shared this before… Why because I didn’t think it mattered, recent events changed that view. When I was growing up in Manchester in the 80s I have vivid memories of my parents being subject to onslaught of abuse as they struggled to feed the family. Throughout my growing years I was subjected to bullying at school because of the colour of my skin. I was treated differently. There was a constant barrage of verbal abuse which I conditioned to ignore, and countless punches kicks sometimes from strangers that I endured all because of the colour of my skin. My friends from all ethnic backgrounds have endured countless abuses, inequality and injustice through out their lives. Race and racism is a reality that many of us have learnt to just accept. We should not just accept it, if not for ourselves for those who do not have a voice and for future generations.
Lesson 3 There is still a lot to do, be the change you want to see.
Fast forward to the present day. I am glad to say we as a society in the UK have moved beyond recognition. I am proud to be British and proud to be part of such a diverse nation. However we can’t rest on our laurels, the path of equality is long and we need to walk that beaten path together as one! Black lives matter, actually all lives matter! To deal with this problem requires everyone not just people of ethnic backgrounds. We need to use humanity, empathy and love as the glue to bring us together and make the change peacefully without violence. We need to start within ourselves, be honest and examine our own views and no matter how uncomfortable, resolve them. Then we need to be that change we want to see in society, being that model citizen avoiding violence, looting and cruelty to anyone. History shows that violence never solves anything and looting physical abuse makes you no better than those you are protesting against.
Stay safe, be kind and let’s be part of the next positive chapter of humanity.
I leave you with a quote from Nelson Mandela one of my all time role models…
I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.
Bhavesh Vaghela
Digital Craftsman
My views are my own, delightfully dyslexic so please forgive the typos!
