by Anita Mendiratta | Nov 30, 2015
In just a matter of hours, it will be December. And the countdown to the end of the year will be on. In actual fact, in some parts of the world it already is, the location of writing now being the west coast of the USA, one of the last locations of our slowly spinning globe to say ‘goodnight’ to the day. Hours, just hours, and the year will be in its T-31 mode, final TO-DO lists for the year being worked through in sweet anticipation of switching off the work part of the day and brain to allow for playtime…until time to toast the new year, and then move back into busyness.
As this time of heightened energy and emotion unfolds, this year, for so many reasons, the need to pause and say a quiet prayer of thanks is greater than ever before. While technically speaking ‘Thanksgiving’ just a few days ago in the USA, with hundreds of millions of Americans at home and around the world raising a glass over a feast shared with friends and family, to give thanks to all that is appreciated all around them, this year, the reasons for the world to stop, and consider, why billions should say thanks, could not be more vivid. In November alone, the mere 30 days of the month made the world’s nervous system stand on edge with reminders of the value of life, love and liberty.
As November unfolded, the month released a damn wall of emotions. With no warning, highs came crashing down.
Initial distraction from the everyday began as the first hours of the month ticked away. Across the globe, in one of the first parts of the world to welcome a new day, the nation of New Zealand was celebrating its historic win of the 2015 Rugby world Cup over neighbours and rivals Australia. The final whistle of the game played in London, England on October 31st would have been a morning victory cry down under. Across the globe, rugby fans felt a surge of energy be injected into November from the start – some celebrating, some commiserating, all united by the spirit of sport.
Into November we go, with its traditional mid-Q4 buzz and busyness, the days ahead viewed through different lenses… This, all while thousands, tens of thousands, of refugees were walking and walking and walking hundreds of miles. Hundreds of miles walked, bused, trained, perilously dangerously sailed, all in desperate hopes of finding a safe place for their exhausted children to sleep – a place they could call home, surrounded by people who would keep them safe each day even if they kept different ways of living daily life. A human chain of hope, escaping hopelessness. Day after day, mile after mile. Mapping – The Refugee Flow Towards Europe
And then, in the silence of hours passing with the hum of the everyday, it happened.
First Beirut.
Then Paris.
Then Bamako.
Then Tunis.
Four far-apart, global capital cities. Four moments during which thoughts, hearts, hopes froze. Four attacks, four fractures of peace of mind, in just one month. Landmarks across the globe became canvases for colours of the flags of nations that had recently suffered. Other nations honoured alongside, including Russia, with its loss of souls of nations in the skies up above Sharm.
Nous sommes 1.
Regardless of the date, whether of one flag or another, for millions and millions the world over pausing to give thanks took the form of a prayer than a toast. The seemingly simple things – our homes, our hopes, our health, our happiness, however that be defined, took on intense meaning, profound value. Each and every cell in one’s body suddenly felt awake, hyper-alive, and bruised. Only prayers seemed to sooth. And whispers of thanks.
Across the world, every day, we are reminded of all that we have to be grateful for. Our lives, our loves, our choices, and even our challenges that ultimately reveal our values and valuables. Still, so easily, these blessings are overlooked. Until those moments happen, macro or micro, that force us to stop, look, really look, and see just how much we have to be thankful for.
November, a month now part of 2015’s history, has made painfully clear that aspects of our lives that we can so easily and passively take for granted – what we wake to every day with a high degree of confidence that it will be there tomorrow just where we left them: people, places, possessions. These are the things millions of others are, today, taking on the greatest risks of their lives, the greatest treks of their lives, to even be able to imagine.
As December now steadily ticks towards the toasting of a new year, may our hearts never lose sight of just how blessed we are to be safe, to be home, to be loved.
Amen.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Oct 31, 2015
And suddenly it is as if the city stops. London, October 2015. Official hosts of the 2015 RWC. Game day. Hit the national pause button. And those of nations taking to the field to stand tall and fight hard for their colours, their nation’s rugby honour, their personal dreams.
Whether in front of a television set, fan zone jumbo screen, stadium full of screaming fans, or computer screen following each move and moment, with each refresh of the score the heart seems to skip a beat. And it is only the Quarter Finals stage! As the match progresses, and muscles of the sports warriors on the field in national colours are pushed to points of pain beyond articulation, passion and determination thankfully eclipsing any feeling, so too are the muscles of spectators left feels weary as close, too close, matches play out. Come its final whistle, those not physically involved, at least not involved on the field, cannot help but laugh at themselves wondering why they are feeling so completely exhausted!
How can it be that a sport followed by so fewer than other main games such as football (soccer in US) can generate such fever pitch among followers, and nationals, alike? It is quite remarkable looking at the Top 10 global fan following numbers, Football topping the charts at an estimated over 3.5 billion fans (just under half of the world’s population), with Cricket coming in at over 2.5 billion, and interestingly, Field Hockey at 2 billion. Tennis at half that amount, with Volleyball just under the 1 billion mark, Table Tennis at 850 million, and then a jum downwards for the final four of the Top 10: Baseball at 500 million, Golf at 450 million, Basketball and American Football each at 400 million. Rugby, surprisingly, does not even feature in the Top 10, and yet at this exact moment, as the national anthems are being sung, the world of sport is watching.
Just a matter of seconds now before the RWC Finals begin, Australia’s Wallabies staring down New Zealand’s All Blacks as the Haka marks the call to battle, 80,000 electrifies followers raising the temperature of the tournament in the stadium as millions upon millions watch from across host country the UK, and the world.
This is the magic of sport, the awe of the human spirit being drawn together around a shared passion for not just the game, but for their flags.With an audience of over 750 million, and an event generating over US$ 350 million, this is truly a world in union, and an absolute win for the global community.
As for the rugby, the champions are about to emerge.
www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/121536
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Sep 6, 2015
September 03rd, 2015. Across the world one image haunted millions of hearts.
There, on the gently lapping shores of Turkey’s southwest coastline, a tiny Syrian old boy, just 3 years of age, lay face down, emptied of life. His family’s hopes of a future of safety were now drowned in the waters between Greece and Turkey. Tragedy had gripped the life of the tiny tot.
Seeing the image ,the world was forced to look at the consequences of a growing humanitarian crisis: people leaving their homes and lives for the search of, the wish of, the desperate need for, a better life. Call them ‘immigrants‘. Call them’ refugees‘. In the end they are all the same – people seeking for better, somewhere else where safety and opportunity are hopefully waiting.
People dying to live.
This little boy, soon picked up like a little rag doll, his limbs dangling with having given up , was gone. What the soldier’s thoughts must have been, one can only imagine. And one can only assume that what looked like seawater droplets on the little child’s face were in fact teardrops having fallen from the eyes and heart of the soldier trying to keep even the little boy’s lifeless body safe.
Little Aylan left as his last cry the chilling, albeit silent, words of “Look at me!!”
How does this happen? How can the world afford to turn away?
These unnatural moments of human tragedy have, sadly, become a critical triggers to finally, finally, activate caring – it takes one poignant image to open one global heart.
And now the world tunes in to watch the latest on the European migrant crisis with greater attention, greater care, greater concern….
Images such as that of little Aylan create for the world a silent yet deafening cry out for help – an appeal to look, understand, and please do something, turning an issue somewhere out there into an emergency everywhere. The need to understand, really understand what is happening, and see each victim as one heart desperately trying to keep beating, is what turns the lost souls in these iconic images into angels.
These little angels suddenly appear and force the attention of the world. And action.
While challenges may be localised somewhere on the globe, solutions are global. As strongly stated by Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, praised for her nation’s ‘here to help’, thought-trough approach to the crisis, her hope is that the European values will step forward, all nations, to demonstrate the values upon which the union was created. A life-saving example, and appeal, to the EU, and the world. A very rich perspective on the European crisis unfolding, and how best the European and global community can understand to be able to respond, is offered by the Head of UNHCR on http://www.unhcr.org/55e9793b6.html
The image of little Aylan now joins the world’s photo collection of defining moments of our times, everpresent as haunting reminders of our need to never look away. And to see the faces that grip our hearts as messengers of what needs to take action.
For as expressed by Kim Phuc, a name known by few and yet an image familiar to the world, she being the young Vietnamese girl just 9 years of age captured in a horror-revealing image of 1972 Vietnam war, an image is often referred to as ‘the photo that changed the war’,: “Try not to see her as a symbol of war, but try to see her as a symbol for peace.”
A picture is worth a thousand words, a million cries for help, and the opportunity for millions, millions more to do something.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Aug 31, 2015
It is one of those times that makes one recall, like a bookmark in the story of one’s life, “I remember where I was when….”
Whether in the place or not, one was firmly in the moment, wherever they may have been in the world. The world stopped, holding its breathe.
Hurricane KATRINA. One storm, one target. One defining moment.
Even 10 years on, stories, reflections, deep sight of recall, makes tears fall – tears of horror, tears of hope, tears questioning how this could have happened, and tears demanding that this never happen again.
As Mother Nature channeled her fury-filled temper towards the southern coast of the USA, the nation braced itself for a storm that defied fiction, and very swiftly and abusively, defied engineering. The Gulf Coast region tried desperately to duck our of harm’s way, but there was no escaping the damage, even if one happened to escape the storm’s path.
Overnight, as darkness fell and the skies started to scream, people and prayers clutched on to one another. As the sun rose, the horror of what had happened unfolded. The storm had ripped through the region, cutting through and washing away lives, livelihoods, hope. In New Orleans alone, the levees had broken, the water had risen flooding 80% of the city.
As stated by The Data Centre, “The storm displaced more than a million people in the Gulf Coast region. Many people returned home within days, but up to 600,000 households were still displaced a month later. At their peak, hurricane evacuee shelters housed 273,000 people and, later, FEMA trailers housed at least 114,000 households.” In the year following Katrina’s arrival, the population of the city dropped by 50% as families – those surviving – continued to wait to rebuild their lives.
The damage was traumatic, the city and Gulf Coast region, traumatised. In one night, with one wicked lashing, Katrina robbed the people of the Gulf Coast region of their dignity, their sense of security, and for hundreds of thousands, their belief in humanity. Scenes of fury from the Superdome, to scenes of death and decay from the flooded streets, revealed how alone millions were feeling.
While the official counts of costs of Katrina are well documented, 1800 lives and over US$ 135billion in damages, the cost spiritually was so much more. How could this have happened? How could such profound loss occur in one of the richest countries in the world? How could a nation priding itself on embracing those from near and afar be felt to be so uncaring, by its own, in their darkest days? And how could of the rest of the world simply sit back and watch?
It was a time that caused many to look down.
Many across the region, across the country. And across the world.
The learnings around Katrina are many. Preparing for a storm can be done with exceptional confidence that essential infrastructure will not fail. And yet, the scars are still raw, even if the levees are now secure. Those there to help, to survive, reflecting back on those horrific days, know that it is not only the hardware of a city that needs to be strong to survive such storms, it is the software – the spirits of the people, those needing help, and those helping, whether around the corner or around the world.
As the 10th Anniversary of Katrina is reached, many know these learnings all too well. Today, while some of the region’s hardest hit areas are now rebuilt with stronger pride and purpose, their people determined to move forward, the distinct musical sounds of the south filling the air, still, there are some where only ghosts reside. Today, 10 years on, the ghosts still walk the streets, shaking their heads, unable to comprehend how this could ever have happened.
In today’s day and age, there is no country immune to crisis, be it natural, economic, social or political. May Katrina’s ghosts continue to remind us, everywhere, of the need to never look away, from hope, and from others needing our help.
In times of crisis, sometimes even Mother Nature can be forgiven for inflicting such hurt….but not human nature. Strength of spirit and strength of structure go hand in hand when it comes to rebuilding communities, rebuilding lives.
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
by Anita Mendiratta | Jul 31, 2015
Today, just one week ago, the hearts of Kenyans across the nation, and world, were alight. Not just Kenyans of direct descent, but those of any connection to the great land, anywhere across the globe.
For many, it was their first time in a long time, if not their lifetime, that such pride was aglow in their beings, such anticipation in their breaths, such a feeling of worth in their spirits.
The reason? The official communiques all expressed the same message: the President of the United States of America was making a state visit to attend the 6th Global Entrepreneurship Summit. But for Kenyans, far and wide, however they may be connected to this great land, it was about so much more than a leader of the free world landing on their tarmac in Air Force One, with all of the protocol, pomp and pageantry. Their son was coming home.
As eloquently expressed by one of Kenya’s proud nationals in the lead-up to the presidential visit, Kenyans were able to “bask in the glory and honor of ushering ‘our own son of the soil’ for the grand homecoming that seems to remind us that #weareone.”
After years of waiting, having been seemingly passed over during his first visit to the continent on taking office, despite debate around issues of safety and security, Kenya’s son was returning home. All was forgiven.
Months of intense preparation and days of sweet anticipation crescendoed to a moment of complete jubilation seeing his sharply cut figure descending the aircraft staircase to be warm embraces of his half-sister and H.E. President Kenyatta. A nation that has been breathing heavily for years, as a result of unprecedented challenges to its peace or mind and place which has put untold pressure on the lives and livelihoods of its people, and weakened the threads of its flag, was finally able to exhale, exhale deeply, and smile.
The power of this feeling of national pride cannot, and should not, ever be forgotten.
For Kenyans, without doubt, they will never. But the after-glow does not end with the people of Kenya. Across the globe, people watching President Obama speaking to the people of his father’s homeland, felt the glow start to penetrate their hearts:
Words of inspiration, direction and unity.
Words clearly expressing the thoughts and feelings of one of the world’s great leaders and the nation’s great sons – words which showed solidarity of beliefs, and at times, differences, passion of position, wherever shared or not.
Words which stated the desire to be part of the solution, there on the front line of challenges, hand in hand.
Words which the President knew would echo in the minds and history books of Kenya and the United States of America for years to come.
Words spoken by one to another, and another, and another, and another…from one country, reaching out to one world. With each speech, soundbyte and snapshot, the Presidential visit provided a rare occasion when the global community could look at another nation and smile, excited for them, there with them, from wherever in the world they may be tuning in, logging in, reading, celebrating with the people of Kenya.
edition.cnn.com/2015/07/26/politics/obama-speech-kenya/index.html
In those moments, history was being made, at so many levels. Political? Yes, of course. But also deeply personal.
The calling home of Kenya’s son turned into a calling on of all people to stand up, and step forward, in facing today’s challenges, and embracing today’s opportunity, for one safer, more secure, more united and more compassionate tomorrow.
As with all callings, the meaning soaked in. As, for a moment, across the globe, geopolitics were paused as people felt the pure comfort and pride of knowing, as President Obama said it so simply yet poetically in his address to the nation, “In the end, we are all a part of one tribe, the human tribe.”
Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2015
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