"Resolve to gain the victory over your own selves." ~Baha’u’llah, Gleanings From the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p.93
I am so grateful for the appearance of this virtue this morning. I have been veering off track and allowing myself to be consumed with other things, putting aside those things that need my attention. Let me explain. I have been distracted by an opportunity to advance in another area of work and have allowed myself to be consumed by reading all that I can get my hands on about the elements of the position and discussing theories with others. It has been stimulated and has generated a great deal of excitement. My mind has been preoccupied for the past three days. So much so that I had not given much thought to an interview I have tomorrow to serve on a community team and the preparation of a presentation I have to give at a college next week. I needed this wake-up call. The research I have been doing is very valuable but today I need to put that aside and attend to more immediate matters. I have found that I have been procrastinating around preparing for the college presentation. I am not entirely sure why this is. As I think about it now, I know that to talk about race in Canada is something I have never shied away from, it is something that I am very passionate about. Giving young minds the opportunity to grasp perhaps the nuanced ways in which the vestiges of colonialism infiltrate our own manner of walking through this world can be quite a revelation. I guess I am concerned with not just giving out information but wanting to offer an experience. It is true that many people in our nation live in communities where they have not ever had to face these challenges or be concerned about race in their community. My task then is to bring awareness that because that may not have been a lived experience in one's life up until now that it is not sufficient for us to place our heads in the sand and say it is not our problem. It is an opportunity to offer them a view of what they do not see and empower them to realise that they can be a part of the solution to help others. Self-discipline reminds me to be tactful in my enthusiasm to share such concepts, being mindful of what people's own understanding and lived experience may be. I often want to barrel in and challenge people's thinking but this sphere is education and it cannot be forced but offered with love so that it may create new susceptibilities in people's hearts and open their minds to moral persuasion. I need to take the time to ensure that my tone is such that it invites people to want to explore further and possibly become a unifying force in their own community.