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“We have to make sure that we do not betray the struggles of the women who brought us this far and the future of those who are dependent on us today and tomorrow.” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General UN & Executive Director of UN Women
Motivation Mondays:- GirlForce: Unscripted & Unstoppable #dayofthegirl
International Day of the Girl Child #DayoftheGirl #GenerationEquality
The empowerment of and investment in girls, which are critical for economic growth, the achievement of all Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of poverty and extreme poverty, as well as the meaningful participation of girls in decisions that affect them, are key in breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and in promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights, and recognizing also that empowering girls requires their active participation in decision-making processes and the active support and engagement of their parents, legal guardians, families and care providers, as well as boys and men and the wider community… Excerpt of UN Resolution 66/170 on International Day of the Girl, 2011.
Motivation Mondays:- International Day of the Girl 2019 – GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable #dayofthegirl – How do girls become unscripted and unstoppable? Education, empowerment, and encouragement through seeing examples of other girls achieving their goals are imperative markers for success. We cannot continue to pay lip service to the idea of gender equality because the responsibility falls on all of us. We must make daily decisions that promote equity for all. Since 2011, when the International Day of Girls initiative was a project of Plan International, the goal was to create a massive movement that addressed key areas of concern affecting girls globally. Plan International led a global effort to build a coalition for the idea, gained the support of the Canadian government, and Day of the Girl was subsequently proposed and passed as a UN resolution on December 19, 2011. Every year, a carefully selected theme has helped organizers bring attention to areas of great need in the lives of girls and women globally.
The theme for the inaugural year of 2012 was Ending Child Marriage and that campaign remains on the forefront as some nations continue the practice while others are making an effort to end it. Subsequent themes have been 2013 -Innovating for Girls’ Education, 2014 – Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence, 2015 – The Power of Adolescent Girls: Vision for 2030, 2016 – Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: What Counts for Girls, 2017 – EmPOWER Girls: Before, during and after crises, and 2018 – With Her: A Skilled Girl Force. This year, according to UNICEF, under the theme, “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable”, International Day of the Girl will celebrate achievements by, with, and for girls since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and passage of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. What does all this mean?
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a treaty that defines the civil, political, economic, social, health, and cultural rights of children under the age of eighteen. Created in 1989, it was ratified and accepted by 196 member nations in 1990. Member nations are bound by International law to work in the best interest of the child. In recent years, the CRC has highlighted the need to restrict the participation of children in military conflicts and children in prostitution/pornography as critical areas of concern and 160 nations accepted the resolution to sanction perpetrators and put an end to those issues.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was a World Conference, held almost 25 years ago, that brought 30,000 women from 200 countries together to create a blueprint of action for women and girls’ human rights. It gave leaders and female advocates the impetus to speak up about issues of inequity and female repression and has continued to force changes in member nations. With 2020 around the corner, the global community plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration by pushing for greater commitments to achieve the goals of its action platform by 2030. What does the Platform for Action demand? Read the next segment below
READ:- UNICEF – International Day of the Girl 2019 “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable”
UNO – International Day of the Girl Child. 11 October
UNICEF – Gender Equality: International Day of the Girl 2019
Motivation Mondays: Power of STORYTELLING
“Humanity’s legacy of stories and storytelling is the most precious we have. All wisdom is in our stories and songs. A story is how we construct our experiences…” Doris Lessing
Motivation Mondays: The Power of STORYTELLING
Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger. Ben Okri
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. Hannah Arendt
When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want a meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller. Robert McKee
I am a person who believes in asking questions, in not conforming for the sake of conforming. I am deeply dissatisfied – about so many things, about injustice, about the way the world works – and in some ways, my dissatisfaction drives my storytelling. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I love creating partnerships; I love not having to bear the entire burden of the creative storytelling, and when I have unions like with George Lucas and Peter Jackson, it’s really great; not only do I benefit, but the project is better for it. Steven Spielberg
The Power of StoryTelling: Stories are rooted in all cultures and we are all storytellers. Our mediums or media might vary but, we have stories in us that we have accumulated over the years through our life experiences and exposure to books, movies, songs, and other people’s tales. We routinely share our stories with others and they inform our decision making and the arc of our life choices. It is impossible to live in this world without exposure to stories because we create them every day through our interactions and communication with others. Stories inform/educate, inspire, motivate, heal and entertain us. Our experiential stories form an important foundation that guide and empower us on our life path. Stories are shared through the written word, movies, music, visual art forms including Digital storytelling and through the oldest form of storytelling, the Oral Tradition – the spoken word passed down through the ages by family members and professional storytellers or Griots.
As far back as I can remember, stories have always been a huge part of my life. I read, saw and heard them from an early age; I heard stories told to gatherings of relatives in front of a burning fireplace during the harmattan season in my grandfather’s compound, read many children and older books filled with stories, and saw and heard my share of movies and music filled with stories of love, loss, and inspiration. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of being read to and being part of a gathering of friends and family at a reading or night of storytelling. We have all had our experience with stories and we continue to create new ones every day. Aesop’s Fables has been a big part of my story reading experience and I have included several pithy stories here for your enjoyment. Do you remember your earliest encounter with the world of storytelling? What was the most moving story you ever read, heard or saw?
READ: Reflections: On Storytelling…
Musings: Lessons Learned From Stories…
Reflections: Happiness Is Life As A Lounging Cat…
Check out: National Storytelling Festival Oct 4-6, 2019
National Storytelling Summit July 23-26, 2020
THE DONKEY AND HIS MASTERS: There was a donkey who worked for a gardener. Because the gardener made the donkey work very hard but gave him very little food, the donkey prayed to Zeus to take him away from the gardener and give him to another master, so Zeus sent Hermes to sell the donkey to a potter. The donkey also found this situation unbearable, since he was forced to carry even heavier loads than before. He called upon Zeus again, and this time Zeus arranged for the donkey to be purchased by a tanner. When the donkey saw the kind of work the tanner did, he said, ‘Oh, it would have been better for me to have kept on working for my previous masters in a state of starvation! Now I have ended up in a place where I won’t even get a proper burial after I die.’ Gratitude for where we are in life is important because the grass might not be greener elsewhere. Some stories shared from Aesopica
THE OLD WOMAN AND HER DOCTOR: An old woman suffering from an eye ailment summoned a doctor who charged a certain fee. She told him that if he cured her, she would pay him the specified fee, but if he didn’t cure her, she wouldn’t pay him anything. The doctor began the cure, visiting the woman every day. He would smear an ointment on her eyes, and while the ointment prevented her from seeing, he would take some object from her house and carry it away. He did the same thing day after day. The woman saw that her property was being diminished with each passing day and by the time she was cured, all her household goods were gone. The doctor asked her for the agreed-upon fee since she was now able to see clearly, and he summoned witnesses to their agreement. The woman protested, ‘I can’t see a thing! Even when my eyes were ailing, I was able to see the many things which I had in my home. Now, when you claim I am cured, I can’t see any of them!’ The fable shows that by their own actions, wicked people can unwittingly serve as witnesses against themselves in a court of law.
THE FARMER AND HIS SONS: A farmer who was about to die wanted his sons to be knowledgeable about the farm, so he summoned them and said, ‘My children, there is a treasure buried in one of my vineyards.’ After he died, his sons took plows and mattocks and dug up the entire farm. They did not find any treasure, but the vineyard paid them back with a greatly increased harvest. Thus they learned that man’s greatest treasure consists of work.
The Honest Woodcutter: The Greek version of the story tells of a woodcutter who accidentally dropped his ax into a river and, because this was his only means of livelihood, sat down and wept. Taking pity on him, the god Hermes (also known as Mercury) dived into the water and returned with a golden ax. “Was this what you had lost?”, Hermes asked, but the woodcutter said it was not, and returned the same answer when a silver ax was brought to the surface. Only when his own tool is produced does he claim it. Impressed by his honesty, the god allows him to keep all three. Hearing of the man’s good fortune, an envious neighbor threw his own ax into the river and wailed for its return. When Hermes appeared and offered him a golden ax, the man greedily claimed it but was denied both that and the return of his own ax. Dishonesty and greedy don’t always yield expected returns. Wikipedia
THE TREES ELECT A KING: The trees came together so that they could anoint a king to rule over them. ‘Please be our ruler,’ they said to the olive tree. The olive tree said in reply, ‘Why would I abandon the richness of my oil, which is valued by both gods and mortals, in order to become the leader of the trees?’ They came to the fig tree and said, ‘Agree to rule over us.’ The fig tree answered, ‘Why would I relinquish my sweetness and delightful fruit in order to become the leader of the trees?’ They came to the vine, hoping that the vine might rule over them, but the vine answered, ‘Why would I relinquish the wine which brings joy both to God and to mankind?’ And so the vine refused to be their leader. The trees then said to the thorn bush, ‘Rule over us.’ The thorn bush replied, ‘If indeed you have resolved to make me your king, come and rest under my shadow, and if you refuse, a fire will come forth from the thorn bush and devour the cedars.‘ Everything has a price. Aesopica index
Motivation Mondays: The Golden Rule
“Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” Confucius
Motivation Mondays: The Golden Rule
Treat others as you would like others to treat you (positive or directive form)
Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated (negative or prohibitive form)
What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself (empathic or responsive form) Wikipedia
The Golden Rule: As far back as I can remember, the maxim or ethic of reciprocity, which is what we also call the Golden Rule, has been a topic of discussion in my household and in other social circles. What is so complicated about such a simple and straightforward bit of wisdom advice? Why do so many ignore it? If we look at the many paths to spiritual growth, there is some version of this principle included in the guiding rules or dictates of every single one of them. Whether you believe in any of them is not entirely the focus here because the idea of wanting to be treated with dignity and respect is a universal human desire. This universal principle also applies to our planet and all life forms in it. It is easy to forget that when we live by the tenets of the Golden Rule, we must apply that belief to not just our human interactions but, to all interactions including how we treat our earth, our planet, and all that sustains the world we inhabit.
Insights on Resistance: We all want to be treated well even as some of us dish out pain and suffering to others. We all want to be heard and understood yet, some give short shrift to the idea because they see it as idealistic and untenable. Another argument is that rules are arbitrary and force us to comply with situations that might not be within our capacity to honor and adopt. Some dismiss it as religious piety and a challenge for most humans to follow. Perhaps… but can we start with the basics? Why not just consider our humanity in all our interactions.
READ:- The Golden Rule
A Story: “The Old Man and His Grandson” A Brothers Grimm fairy tale
There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilled the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather, at last, had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they brought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat. They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. “What are you doing there?” asked the father. “I am making a little trough,” answered the child, “for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.”The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything. via Wikiversity
