In Reaching for The Stars

Gone are the days when the starry-eyed girl from a village or small town dreamt of making it big in the city or the best-known country. Not merely for the reason that humankind is presently working towards landing on the nearest potentially habitable planet, it’s because life as we know it has evolved in pace and the things we do and how they’re done, in how and where we spend our time, in our priorities and benchmarks, and our core values and bearings.

We’re now talking about humans competing with machines and AI in the effort to continue making a living. No doubt, what we’ve been hearing more of late is how much easier they are making our work and our lives.

The truth is that corporations are saving through technological adoption, and that’s brilliant. But how can we explain the sound of wailing of those being made redundant and so many never getting lucky at getting employed? More people, lesser jobs.

Let me correct that. More educated people are walking around unemployed. While so much has been invested in learning something that has no means for gainful application, why is the ecosystem not able to do anything about the gaping gaps?

We as a species need to come up with more verticals and sectors, innovation in products and services, more job creators than job seekers, and even simply reconsider and redefine the way money and economies work.

Whether it be spearheaded by governments, individuals or communities, the change is imminent. This, for me, is rudimentary, if we sincerely want a shot at coping with the evolution, aspiring to overcome, and thereafter grow. And while this assertion has thus far been gender agnostic, what does it mean for almost half of the world’s population that’s already had to double up to stay on par, that manages the home and hustles at work, that is constantly having to strive against norms and biases and that is fundamentally unsafe navigating life.

Indeed, that girl I spoke about when I started this piece. What do the stars in her eyes see in this time and age? No matter where she’s from.

Starting from the basics. I’m not sure how much we can advocate for the safety of women as long as the barbarian in humans, whatever race, religion or stature, don’t flinch to kill, annihilate, disturb and distress innocent people, just people. Young and old, not so young and not so old, and that should cover the diaspora.

We’re accustomed to hearing the phrase ‘women and children’ to indicate a certain degree or extremity of cruelty. There are species marked as endangered and vulnerable, and the same barbarians probably respect that by and large, but not as much, women and children.

The more refined lot understand that children are a protected class, but women?

Well… Laws assuring the safety of women, guardrails to ensure implementation and consequences of violating such laws need to be pressed heavily across the globe. The primary UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) that addresses the safety of women is SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

But what an ocean lies between the continents of safety and equity and empowerment, an island somewhere in between!

Humans have been very good at doing things as belonging to a certain country or faith and creed, but we still have a way to go in doing some things as belonging to the same species.

The global effort needs to be stronger and imposed on the constituents (countries). Countries should be penalized for falling short in this regard, which can be called the enforcement approach. The other is the inspiring approach. Where young minds that go to nursery, school and college are instilled with the bare bones of what is acceptable and respectable for a safe world for all, including women (and children).

Education inside and outside of school should embody all of this, not just scientific equations, the anatomy of the human body, the history of the world and a whole host of extra-curricular activities.

Speaking of education, those fields such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) that are stereotypically male dominated, even political leadership all too important in that such positions determine the direction for nations and legislations governing genders therein, need to see a greater emergence of women, with the overarching objective of parity and fairness. Of course, there will be different yardsticks for sport and childbearing by biological differences, but the differences should stop right there.

When we speak about equity, it’s more corporate. Equal pay, representation, voice at the table, opportunities for growth, and flexibility in various aspects of employment. Remaining in a state of denial about the looming disparities, more in some places than others, serves no good and pushes us back as a civilization.

The hand that rocks the cradle has to co-steer the direction that the lullaby listener takes, continuing to shape their world, starting with being part of that world and understanding how it works.

While a lot of this seems surreal, perhaps even that it requires communal deliberation, what can we, as individuals, do to raise the bar of purpose, passion, excellence and execution? For ourselves, for those in our care, for our circles of influence, such as work, the neighborhood, peer groups and the like. No one who scaled a height started high, they will have started differently, differently from others and from how they (themselves) were up to a point.

To begin with, we owe ourselves the onus to have maximized life, experimenting with all our known talents, going a little deeper on some and exploring new ones.

There’s no point fretting over time lost, for that has moved to the past and served its purpose. It’s never too late to start, even to restart. If we were in a race, what’s ahead is all that matters, and the race begins now.

It starts with self. Eating better and right. Working on staying fit. Checking the status of one’s health from time to time and addressing concerns. Enhancing or revising one’s style—whether it be grooming, communication, or demeanor.

Learning and upskilling. Earning a little more after every interval of time. Giving back somewhere it resonates – time, resources and self. Resorting to therapy for vices that impede and voices that deter a resolute mind. Resolving impaired relationships, whether it be peacemaking or severance, it is intentional and leaves one with an equation better than what was.

Investing in people that matter—children, parents, and partners, assets and projects of choice. It literally makes the world a better place. Managing time optimally, respecting one’s own time, minimizing the waste of time and yet providing ample time for doing nothing.

We often forget to breathe in the busyness of life, so much so that the time spent doing nothing is when we get a breather and heal.

A regulated and resilient self is an asset to every family, every friend clique, every work situation, and society.

It is an inward-out flow elevating life and the meaning of existence, pretty much like the human heart. It first receives, does some within itself and then sends out and keeps at that without missing a beat. Consistency should be in one’s default settings, every beat missed adds up in the bigger picture.

This is my view on expanding horizons. Holistic, reaching the utmost possible and beneficial to self and all.

There’s no stopping an empowered woman. She stands up for herself and everyone in her mantle of reach - simultaneously, seamlessly, and valiantly, as only women do.

That little girl with her feet on the ground will, of course, reach for the stars, for she can.