I’m straying from my usual sharing of business tips and ideas today to write about something much bigger and more important.
The last few months have tested us all, bringing out the best and worst in us.
The best include doctors, nurses, and hospital staff who have become heroes, along with the providers of essential services that we usually take for granted. Include, too, the 7 pm clappers, the firefighters who help little boys celebrate their birthdays, the peaceful demonstrators, the volunteers risking their own health to help feed the hungry, all of the self-quarantiners, and everyone else who has stepped up during this challenging time.
On the other side are the people who continue to hate, stereotype, harass, humiliate and hurt others just because they are different, who abuse their authority to cause injury or death or endanger weaker people by ignoring safety recommendations.
I want to thank and commend the first group. They are our heroes.
I also believe that advisors who have reached out to clients to make sure their families are okay, to calm their fears about the market and to make sure they’ve protected their families financially have contributed something to the “best” side.
As for the other group, the “worst,” I support every peaceful effort to speak out against them. I’ve spent too much of my life not speaking up—worried that it might bring some of their negativity down on me. But everything I’ve done over the past decade has been about service to others, and I would be completely out of integrity if I just stood silent now. Racism, harassment, stereotyping and targeting someone because they’re different is NEVER okay.
As our states open up, stay safe…stay healthy…try to be kind…and KEEP REACHING…
