| “Without a moral compass the human mind will justify anything.” Mehrnaz Bassiri
My thoughts: I used to think I had a Moral Compass. I used to think I was a kind, good, peace loving, generous person who cared about other people and about nature and the environment.
I have learned that I was a coward with a very self serving Moral Compass. The kind of Moral Compass that made it okay for me to state my opinions on everything from my perch of relative security and comfort free from oppression and taking for granted Canada's publicly funded health care, education, social supports, infrastructure, justice system, disaster relief, military, old age security. Taking for granted the accessibility of natural resources like fresh water, forests and mountains that, until recently, have buffered us from severe weather and temperature extremes. Taking for granted the opportunity to do what I want, say what I want and go where I want. The kind of Moral Compass, that allowed me to determine who I voted for based on how it would serve me, my family, my livelihood, my right to protect my hard earned and invested money, and my right to safely squirrel away some amount that would equal whatever would feel like financial security for my future. I cringe for that entitled and self-virtuous feeling I used to justify.
We accumulate a moral compass by osmosis as we grow up from our family, friends, environment and other influences. School, society and religion can also give us some moral framework but, although they help, they have some self serving agendas at their source.
This is not a Moral Compass. Our Moral Compass is influenced by all of the above, but is a lot more work to find. It comes from challenging what we believe and questioning why we believe it. To recognize where our 'moral compass' is self serving and self perpetuating. To realize when we say "that's just the way it is" that we are the ones responsible for "the way it is".
Paradoxically a strong Moral Compass makes accepting many things more difficult, yet it gives us a meaning to our life that is more fulfilling and alive than anything else. Despite feeling like quicksand it is the only solid ground possible in this life.
"Courage is that powerful force which enables us to overcome obstacles, to fight for what’s right, to serve others, to drive change—and, ultimately, to become who we were truly meant to be."
Ryan Holiday
Cheers
Jeanne
Action: Although I have not finished my course in philanthropy and charitable giving I have researched this organization with the resources I have so far and have donated. I cannot articulate why Haiti when there are so many other children and people in the world that need help, but it is calling me and this I can do so I am.
MEHRNAZ’S STORY Mehrnaz grew up in Iran and, as a girl, faced crushing sexism and cultural repressiveness. She remembers being an eight-year-old already aware that her society equated her body with shame. “Being a girl is hard in Iran, and being a tomboy is worse…I remember feeling embarrassed that I had done something wrong, though I didn’t know what.” This experience taught Mehrnaz the importance of strong female role models in every young girl’s life. Through her work she inspires and empowers women to use the power of incremental progress to become leaders in their professional and personal lives. As a child, Mehrnaz was a first generation immigrant twice—first to Japan and later to Canada. She understands the enormous gifts that come from having the privilege to intimately experience another culture—and the grinding struggle to overcome being an outsider. Her immigrant identity has taught her that regardless of where we live and what language we speak, our desire for creating a better future for ourselves and those we love is universal. Mehrnaz equips her audience with the tools and strategies to overcome obstacles and achieve progress towards their dream life. Mehrnaz had a rare, debilitating condition called selective mutism that took away her ability to speak for much of her childhood and youth. Undiagnosed, as an 11-year old who had almost lost hope that functioning in the world was possible for her, she became determined to overcome her disorder at all costs. Mehrnaz launched a lonely campaign of incremental efforts and experimentation that eventually led her to reclaim her voice. It was the first of many experiences that showed her how small actions can lead to extraordinary results. A couple of decades later, she challenged herself to finally dominate her selective mutism by becoming a public speaker–and succeeded. “I want to inspire and empower every person, regardless of their gender, race, orientation, educational background or upbringing to discover how deliberate and continuous small, constructive actions can lead to a better, more fulfilling life.”
—Mehrnaz Bassiri Mehrnaz knows the suffering that comes from poverty, and how the quiet shame and the physical and emotional exhaustion of constant income insecurity strains family relationships and erodes dignity. As new Canadians, her family went from having a breadwinner who’s highly advanced career provided for a comfortable life to having two parents with precarious employment struggling to meet basic needs. Seeing her parents doggedly eke out a livelihood under unfavourable circumstances and gradually re-establish their financial security taught Mehrnaz that success is often incremental and slow. Rarely do we go from nothing to having everything overnight. The key to success is adopting the right mindset to keep showing up and making progress. Mehrnaz understands how intolerance causes many LGBTQ+ people to conceal or distort their real selves, and the pain this creates. She spent many years hiding in the closet, leading a double life. Like so many others, Mehrnaz undertook the hard and courageous work of finding a way to live her life openly and authentically. She discovered that it is embracing our difference that makes us truly happy. Developing the confidence to expose our vulnerability helps us develop real strength. And becoming indifferent to the reactions of others makes us truly free. Mehrnaz successfully made the kind of dramatic career change that many people dream about but don’t follow through on. As an accomplished science graduate with an enviable early start in the biotech industry, Mehrnaz experienced the harm that comes from being on a career trajectory offering status and money but that is all wrong for you—and feeling like there is no way out. Mehrnaz taught herself to pursue her authentic aspirations by using her systematic science training to problem-solve her way out of her predicament. She ended up foregoing status and money to “follow her bliss” and found out that the old saying is true: do what you love and the money will follow. Mehrnaz and her family experienced systemic racism when discriminatory bureaucratic practices delayed her mother’s potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant. As a Canadian citizen Merhnaz is grateful for her positive experiences in one of the best countries on earth, but she also takes on the responsibility to speak truthfully about the discrepancy between high-minded government rhetoric surrounding citizens’ rights and the second-class treatment her mother received from the Canadian government when her life hung in the balance. Mehrnaz recognizes that this kind of double standard has been, and continues to be, experienced by Indigenous peoples, people of colour, and first-generation immigrants. She believes that stories have the power to bring us closer together, unite us against discrimination, and move us towards a more equitable future. Mehrnaz was forced to develop a high level of resilience when she faced the double challenge of being an inexperienced start-up business owner during the most challenging period of her personal life. The lessons she learned on how to save her business and pull through emotionally while she was running her new company from her mother’s hospital bedside have stayed with Mehrnaz ever since. And today she teaches others how to build their resilience to overcome their own professional and personal challenges. Mehrnaz has discovered that self-awareness is the single most essential component for living a fulfilled life and pursuing goals that truly lead to happiness, instead of just success. Whether it’s raising your math score, achieving a promotion, accomplishing a business milestone, improving your time management—or even your relationships—the most powerful starting point will always be an honest investigation into yourself. Your definition of happiness. Your definition of success. Your definition of who you are. And that requires you to know your story. Mehrnaz has and continues to delve into her own story. She shares it for the sake of others looking for inspiration to do the same. | |
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