Time for Equality

At the beginning of the new year, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your interest in Time For Equality since we started in April 2013. It is important to feel supported in our efforts to develop Time For Equality as an open and inclusive platform for mutual learning, for sharing expertise and resources, and for taking action. Thank you!

As said earlier, we believe that change is possible, and through Time For Equality we want to make our contribution to a fairer and more equal society. Yes, nice words – how many times you have already read or heard similar statements. The challenge is to prove that it is possible to give these words real life, to translate them into thoughts, behaviours, and actions, in the multiple roles we have in life.

The persons I most admire are persons who do “walk the talk” in life, who act in line with their principles and values, in spite of all odds, and who are ready to bear the consequences for this attitude. They are human beings, with their capacities and their possible limitations, who inspire others through their example; they are role models.

I believe that there is a need for recognising and celebrating role models, whether they have the exceptional biography of a Nelson Mandela, or are a 16-year-old courageous girl, like Malala, or an “everyday” person in “everyday” situations acting, however, with sincerity, passion and awareness, in a way that makes us pause and think, and eventually react against the weight of prejudices and the root causes of injustice and inequalities.

There is also a need for each one of us to play our own part, however small it may be, and not wait for “others”, who are stronger or more powerful, to take action. Yesterday, I was reminded of this by listening to the inspiring message of a traditional African tale, beautifully told by Wangari Maathai (watch the video). It is the tale of a little hummingbird that tries to put out a huge fire in the forest by flying incessantly from and to the river, each time with a drop of water in its small beak. In the meantime, all other animals, bigger and stronger, just stand by looking and doing nothing, helpless. When asked “what do you think you can do, you’re so small,” the hummingbird simply replies, without even stopping: “I am doing the best I can”.

My wish for the new year is a world where everybody will do the best they can to make it a better place.