The President and CEO of the company I work for released an internal video speech addressing support for Black Lives Matter, human and civil rights, the challenges of helming a unique business thru such turbulent times including the currently ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and his inner struggles with recognizing his own White privilege. His presentation moved, inspired, and even humbled me as well as others. As his presentation is itself confidential, the words below constitutes my otherwise public response:
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Eric. Thank you. Powerful presentation. I appreciate your empathy, especially when such a vital quality of our shared humanity seems absent among much of our national leadership. Let’s learn together our various lessons from these events as we find constructive ways to move forward beyond or even with our disagreements. At different times in our nation’s history many have spoken up for justice, representation, and, indeed, recognizance – to simply be seen, and, yes, sadly, resorting to violence when they don’t feel seen as human beings. The list is long: Native Americans, Latinx, women, Blacks, Asians, working class folks, immigrants, children, the elderly, the disabled, veterans, those with chronic illnesses, people from different religions and subcultures, people from across the spectrum of different sexual, gender, and relationship identities, on and on, as, gosh, the list of our diversity is so very rich.
Yes, we don’t know the best words or actions. We will mess up and mess up again. Well, life is a mess. Let’s root ourselves deeper in our network of communities and find new ways to work together. Yes, we live during a time where so many overlapping crises and wicked problems converge the world feels apocalyptic. Just know all these things shall pass.
We are, however, as you, Eric, spoke so well to, at choice. We are at choice as what steps we choose to take as we move forward. We are all at choice as to how we show up as we move thru our times. Thank you again, Eric. The sun will shine again, and eventually shine so long even the next rain’ll feel good!
William Dudley Bass
Wednesday 3 June 2020
Sunday 30 August 2020
Seattle, Washington
USA
Cascadia
Sol
Copyright © 2020 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.