Monthly email sent to clients:
2020 has been a crazy year. This month’s email was going to be about how my clients have handled their emotions with the market taking a dive and then mostly recovering - but after this past weekend, I’m changing the subject to my thoughts about what is going on.
All of my clients have been affected in different ways. I have clients that are: black, white, brown, business owners, republican, democrat, libertarian, gay, straight, widows, widowers, devout in their religion, etc.
I tell clients on our initial calls that it’s okay to not agree with every viewpoint I have as I believe that you’re allowed to disagree as long as you’re not disagreeable. I also don’t expect to agree with everything that everyone thinks and that’s okay. That said, I wanted to write this month’s email and provide my thoughts on what’s taken place over the past week.
I will keep it short. I don’t support racism and/or hatred toward anyone of any color, sexuality, religion, etc. I also don’t support violence and destruction toward people and property. I’ve seen some folks say that, “since looting is ‘less’ of a crime than murder that makes it okay.” I disagree. Both are wrong in my opinion. Also, let me say this: being against one thing doesn’t automatically make you for something else. Examples: speaking out against white supremacy and race-based violence doesn’t make you anti-white or anti-police - it makes you pro-justice, pro-accountability, and pro-equality. Caring about the lives of one another isn’t political and neither is this note.
Since I work in a solution-oriented industry, I’ve tried to think about possible solutions to end the racism and violence that has been occurring/does occur in society. I remember a podcast I listened to on a road trip last year where a Medal of Honor recipient said (paraphrasing), “There is good and there is evil (in the world). That’s all. We have to do our best to minimize the evil and maximize the good.”
I hope there is a day very soon where good can triumph over evil and that we can make our points without burning the neighborhoods with which we live. For now, I stand with my minority clients, law enforcement clients, business owner clients, and all clients. I stand against injustice. I will continue to run an inclusive business that focuses on achieving the goals of the clients I care so much about. I’ll say it again, at the end of the day you don’t have to be against one thing to be for something else.
"Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant because it’s always still in the air...What I want to see is not a rush to judgment, but a rush to justice." - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Thank you for reading,
Doug
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