Vincentian Voices Network: Removing Indifference
Vincentian Voices Network: Removing Indifference
I don’t know about others but when I sit and listen to today’s news which seems to always be full of hatred, mistrust and fake claims, it becomes a seemingly insurmountable barrier to overcome. As I have stated in past articles, our biggest challenge is not hatred but indifference. When we get political and religious leaders using very questionable resources to promote positions on gender, faith, healthcare and other important topics, it is not enough for us to sit at home and complain about how these harmful views are forced upon all of us. If we want to address hatred, we must first remove the indifference with which we treat such views. Too often we simply ignore them and go about living our own lives while giving up having a voice that we may think cannot possibly have any effect on positive change.
While it is important that we speak up within our families, communities, organizations, churches and faith traditions we must also focus on actions. Indifference can be a matter of us not feeling we have sufficient knowledge of an issue to speak out. In that case simply do your own research on the issue, improve your knowledge using reliable sources and then work towards an effective way to speak out and act.
You can also focus on your own organization or group to first demonstrate your support for DEI by raising the issue internally and promoting the need to become more diverse in leadership and membership. I believe each of us needs to look at ourselves and be prepared to undergo a personal transformation as we gather and read resource material. Take a look at the graphic below and try to objectively decide where you currently fit and what you need to do to improve. Engage in open dialogue with others, especially anyone who identifies as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous people of colour) by listening, sharing and learning.
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About the author:
Jim Paddon lives in London, Ontario, Canada and is a Canadian Vincentian. He is married to his dear wife Pat and they have six daughters and eleven grandchildren. Jim has been a member of the Society since the 1970’s.
I respectfully acknowledge the traditional, unceded territories of the Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Metis and Inuit, on which lands we meet, work and live.
1 Comment
Fear, Learning, Grow… It seems that is what we all strive for. I do think people are so busy in their own life situations that they do not think about this topic too much. Also, in many areas’ nationalities continue to live and feel most comfortable in their own neighborhoods. Truly though, this is a good topic to continue to talk about and be aware of as many of us deal with many nationalities often.