Hand: Active Participation or Cooperating, according to dictionary.com, definition #14 for the word “hand.”
If this tree was keeping you from reaching the most important destination of your life, and the people in this photo offered to give you a hand, would you turn them down? I wouldn’t!
Did you notice that the hands on this tree represent at least 6 individuals? Did you notice the different skin colors? Did you also notice what appears to be a peaceful positioning of their hands on the trunk?
Or did the following questions come to your mind?
Why are they are all gathered around the same tree? Are those the hands of friends or enemies? Why does there appear to be only one or two people of color and why is only one of their hands on the tree, and why at the bottom?
The questions you have about this photo, the perspective from which you view it, are probably directly influenced by your life experiences.
The one thing I notice is that this tree seems to be in the way of ALL the people in this picture.
That is what inequities do; They get in the way! They affect all people, one way or another.
If you are on the receiving end of an inequitable practice, your confidence, drive, and enthusiasm may have been quenched and that breaks my heart.
If you are the one operating in an inequitable way, you may quite possibly be keeping someone from operating at their fullest potential. Are you be ok with that?
There are personal, societal and historical implications-losses not gains, when equity is not a priority. Doing what right and fair is what will help us to rewrite history.
Now look at the tree again and dare yourself to see those hands representing individuals who are united in their belief that they can move this tree out of the way. Because even if it’s only hindering one person from reaching their destination, it’s worth the undertaking!
