Today’s tip: TROUBLEMAKERS ARE US
Dear colleagues and friends,
How was your night? I hope it was good and restful. Mine was great and short, gratifying and inspiring. I am sleepy but smiley! We have great people in the organization and it is always rewarding to know them a little better.
One of my favorite writers and youth heroes is a French man named François-Marie Arouet. A prolific writer and thinker, he was a troublemaker, a free but responsible soul who dared to make decisions about his life and be vocal about them. Francois-Marie was witty, smart, adventurous and successful. He challenged the status quo, argued against religious intolerance and vehemently defended freedom of speech. He made a difference and he was ready to pay a price for doing it. Sentenced to prison twice, he was once exiled to London and imprisoned at the infamous Bastille. However, I think he would have joined the Chilean Pablo Neruda passionately and gladly confessing that he had lived! François-Marie was -and is- my hero because he dared to speak uncomfortable truths, because he spoke to power -with reason, satire and wit- and because he defended the right of everyone to speak their own truths. It is likely that you have heard my favorite quote from him: “I may not agree with a word you say but I will defend to death your right to say it.” By the way, François-Marie, or Zozo as his family called him, adopted a new name after his incarceration in the Bastille: VOLTAIRE.
Let me join Luvvie Ajayi’s invitation to follow Voltaire steps and get comfortable with being uncomfortable:
Take care and stay safe. I wish you a wonderful day!