DoubleJoy

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You really have to enjoy life as it goes along.

Every breath, every moment is a GIFT.

Smile, Breath, Complement.

Realize that sunshine is just on the other side of this cloudy day.

Don’t go spending your worry dollars on just anything.  Spend judiciously only on the items that are expensive as diamonds.

If they don’t want you, start your own CREW.

If they are not worried about it, why are you?

If you know what makes you happy and what you like to do, then go do THAT.

Spend time in the sun, drinks lots of water.

Breath in all the moments, those are the best parts.

Life is about great attempts, not low aim.  It is OK to fail, but inglorious not to try.

Hang with the people who know you can’t wish and want, you actually have to work and love.

Hang with the happy people.

Hang with the grateful people.

Smile, Breath, Complement.

#joy #celebratelife #grateful #bepositive #behappy

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Stay true to your commitments
If you make a commitment, work your best to see it through.  Poorly planned delivery on ‘receipts’ makes more work for everyone, and they will resent it.

Score small wins early
Address some low-hanging fruit to create momentum for your ideas.

Set the operating plan
Bring calm and peace to how the process will operate.  Bring clarity to the process. Share the plan and help ease the way forward.

Be afraid, but go in anyway
Most people avoid mess and conflict. Be afraid, but go on in anyway.  You may find opportunities and may be successful RESOLVING.

Big Picture Followership
To be accepted as a big-picture thinker and gain followership, work to earn respect, trust, and credibility.  Deliver tangible value, focus on contribution, and not exclusively on asserting the vision.  Address a challenge for the team and take it off their plate.

Be persuasive, get buy-in
Remember that having the right answer without buy-in or commitment is worthless.  Being right is irrelevant if you are not also persuasive.

Receipts
Get your work done and keep people in the loop from beginning to end.

Sales & Negotiation
Partnerships, recruiting, vision … a sale.  Hiring, alignment, value … a negotiation.

Be comfortable not knowing

Manage your worry dollars

Most of us are not performing brain surgery, be responsible, but find time to recharge and hold on to your peace.

Rooting for you …

 

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Over time, for me, a few things are important.

1.  Working to do what is needed to make things easier for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Doing the things that are necessary to make justice possible, even if it means some of John Lewis’ ‘good trouble’.  What is that sentiment sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson? … ‘when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty‘.

2.  Competence and empathy are critical components of leadership.  We can never say it doesn’t matter who leads.

3.  No one becomes successful alone.  Someone told me, successful people can do anything, but they can’t do everything.  All successful people have had love, support, and generosity bestowed on them at some point.

4.  It is our responsibility to make a positive dent in this world.  Lin-Manuel Miranda, as Hamilton says, ‘I am not throwing away my shot.  Eminem says, ‘you only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow’.  Never throw away your shot to step up.  Summon the courage to keep going.  This is made possible by showing up RIGHT every day, responding and not reacting, smiling in the sunny weather AND the rain, and delivering on your commitments.  And, if that has not been happening for you as of late, ‘the next thirty seconds are your chance to turn it all around’ – Penelope Cruz in Vanilla Sky.

5.  Don’t live Saturday to Saturday. Structure your life to enjoy EACH day and appreciate the mundane along the way.  Invest the time in understanding what it is that you value.  Your strength, your peace, your happiness will come from aligning what you choose and do with what it is that you value.  Understand what you value, put it in a bubble, and make all your decisions, grand and small, in such a way that the bubble is protected.

Breathe and live joyfully.

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They can feel the tide turning.

For the past few years, especially, hate and racism were celebrated and allowed to be broadcast in the light of day.

Hate and racism felt empowered and the ugly could sing in the bright sunshine.

The empowerment was relished.

You can tell by all of the videos of the ‘Karens’.  They realize the tide is turning.  They may have to go back to the dark corners, the basements, the night time.

They are making their last-ditch efforts.

You can’t be upset about your children being killed in the light of day with cameras rolling, you must find an appropriate way to protest that I approve.  But, I can riot because you have said I have to wear a mask, leash my dog, or wait to get a haircut.

No worries, we plan to stay strong.

We will not shut up.

We will make hate and racism wrong again.

#ByeKaren

 

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Most violent crime is intra-racial and happens because of proximity. There is also white on white crime. People bring this up to get you to shut up about white police on black crime. They hope to get you stuck in a loop defending intra-racial violence and try to suggest intra-racial violence only happens in black communities. Systemic denial of services in poor neighborhoods is what makes those neighborhoods bad, not any intrinsic qualities of a certain race. Also, when black people kill other black people, there is accountability, they go to jail. When white police officers kill black people, the white police officers, most times, don’t.

Why are you saying black lives matter, when you know all lives matter?

OK, Amy, you know that we mean black lives matter too and that all lives can’t matter until black lives matter.

Why do you riot?

Because you feel you have not been heard. You tried kneeling, you tried peaceful protests, you tried hashtags, you tried screaming, and they are still murdering your people in the light of day with cameras rolling and hands in their pockets. Amy, even you blew up when that man asked you to leash your dog.

What should I do?

Use your privilege to call out and fight racism and injustice whenever you see it, even if it pisses off your non-black friends. Stand up for justice at work – black friends at work are suffering every day from injustices that can be attributed to their skin color; treated with discourtesy, treated as though they are not smart, treated as though people should be afraid of them, treated as though what they just said should be dismissed, mistreated because privilege may not be enough to help compete against a very qualified underrepresented minority. Amy stop saying they shouldn’t bring up the race card, they shouldn’t be so angry.

Why defund the police?

Amy, you are not confused. You know that defunding the police means to no longer invest in qualified immunity, civil asset forfeiture, the drug war, over-criminalization, no-knock warrants, militarization of police, and mandatory minimums, but invest more in housing, education, community, and our youth.

Amy, I, too have privilege and influence.  I have earned that over time.  I commit to mentor.  I commit to building up my sisters who have to deal with the daily indignities that are suffocating.  I commit to speak up and call out racism and injustice.  I commit to insisting on not making the hire until a slate of under-represented candidates is interviewed.  I commit to speak up when I see all the underrepresented employees at the bottom of the evaluation ratings.  I commit to building up the self-esteem of our black children that have to listen to leaders tell them to accept injustice because … what do they have to lose?

Yeah, I commit to not accepting that our children’s lives matter less, and I commit NOT to shut up.

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In these times, what can we do?

Infiltrate communities that do not regularly suffer the indignities of being black or suffer the psychological suffocation of not being able to bring up injustices because it makes others feel uncomfortable.

We must be more than non-racist.  We must be anti-racist.

It will take courage.

Non-black friends may not want to hear it.  We must stay strong, this is a larger fight.

Let go of cowardice. It builds character.

We can be the best allies by using privilege to be openly and overtly anti-racist.

We must call out and combat injustice whenever it is seen, even if it makes one unpopular with friends.

Why do people riot?

Sometimes it may be because we are broke, angry, unheard, and reacting to pain.

I would suggest, if a man who just found out the rapist of his daughter just got off and will not be arrested, he may go after said rapist and try to strangle the person.

This may not be the best way for him to protest, but I think we would cut him some slack. We would not tell him at that time, that this is not the most productive way to gain justice.  For those not having to live with his pain, we would cut him some slack.

Also, sometimes when you kneel, when you bring up these issues in non-violent protests, they still kill your children with impunity.  There were signs 40 years ago in protests that said ‘stop killing black people‘.

When you are unheard, you may scream, you may riot.

No justice, no peace.

Many people get to WALK by egregious and small acts of racism every day.  Others have to LIVE with egregious and small acts of racism and injustice every day.

Makes you wanna holler!

Also, some times when people ask ‘why do you RIOT?’, it is because they really want you to be QUIET.  You bringing up all that racism stuff is uncomfortable for me.  People try to find a way to distract and end the conversation.

Please shut up and suffer in silence so that I can go about living my comfortable, racism-free life. It is this apathy that allows injustice and racism to continue. We ALL must stand up and say that no one should have to suffer racism and injustice in silence.  It is unfair to ask people to suffer racism, injustice, and killings in silence so that other people can have Sunday Brunch in peace.  

We cannot ask people to live with the hopelessness that injustice, racism, and killing is ‘just another Wednesday‘ in their lives.

This moment can be transformational for all of us, not EASY, but transformational. There is an urgency of NOW.

What gives me faith in the promise of America is that it seems that those 10-16 year-olds of all colors and faiths seem to understand.  They do not equivocate.  Racism and injustice exist. Racism is wrong. #Blacklifematters. #Nojusticenopeace.

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Stokely Carmichael said ‘If a man wants to lynch
me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to
lynch me, that’s my problem.’

So let’s talk about that power, let’s talk about
empathy.

Having limited empathy allows some to pretend
this is new.

Having limited empathy can allow some to say,
I didn’t know this happens in America.

Feeling that you have the impunity to execute
someone in daylight with cameras filming is
despicable.

When you have empathy, you are not non-racist,
you are openly anti-racist.

It takes courage, but we can do it.

When you ignore a leader’s racism, misogyny,
and hate speech, this, in the most charitable
terms, lacks empathy.

I have garnered some privilege as I have moved
through my career in life, it is my responsibility
and duty to use any influence I may have to
connect with resilience and work to change and
improve the system.

I can’t be quiet.  I will not be quiet, and frankly,
I am exhausted.

I have worked very hard over the last twenty
years to try and raise a kind, decent, good
black man.

I will not accept that his life matters less.

I will also insist you help me make systemic
change.

We don’t have to solve everything at once,
but we can all use whatever influence we
may have to remove injustice.

We know what is right.

I also say with change, the priority of
actions taken matters.

The first priority might not be to
solve how the oppressed react.

Martin Luther King said … ‘a riot is the
language of the unheard’.

We know why people are upset, let’s
not pretend to not understand.

While I do believe it is best to respond
and not react, there are moments
when injustice has occurred for so long
that people are too hurt and feel too
invisible.

The priority for change has to be
to remove those who have the power
and impunity to kill in the light of day
with their hands in their pockets.

These are people of low moral character
and are incapable of responsibility and
empathy.

We have to demonstrate that we will
work to address the pain and the hurt,
so the true protestors can listen to the
best way to organize and mobilize.

People are fed up.

#saymyname