World Refugee day - 20 June 2018 - No expert.
- HIGHCROFT WRITING
- Oct 12, 2018
- 4 min read
On World Refugee Day, a personal input from the Founder, and Chief Content Officer, of Highcroft Writing.
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For the majority of my career I have been passionately nose to the grindstone in change management. My goal was always to either make a visible and much needed improvement, or to successfully mitigate the risks of a mandatory change. I loved the challenge. I wanted to make a difference. I’ve never been shy of hard work, but it was always a challenge. Especially for someone who likes everyone to be happy. Job descriptions should say things like , “Prepare to be disliked.”, “Even the nicest people, who absolutely think you’re lovely, will resent your presence at some point.” Yet that wasn’t the hardest part for me. I understood why, and could respect their position.
I personally always found that the hardest part of change management was the responsibility of writing or speaking with authority about something that you were not the expert in.
The best part? It tied. Successfully delivering was of course a buzz, but it always tinged with the little bit of the sadness that came with moving on. For me, there was always something particularly special about that golden moment along the journey when you realised you had become (a bit of) an expert in the subject at hand. Those moments when you could answer all the questions, handle all the challenges, and people came to you for advice and opinion. You had climbed the mountain and had a right to wave your flag.
That takes time. It takes effort. It takes listening, and learning, and listening some more. It takes reading, and remembering, and humility. Even if you become an expert, you are not the expert. You are qualified only to talk about the change you are managing and there is always someone more qualified to talk about the process, or the subject at hand.
The relevance of this today?
When I returned to the world of writing, I made a conscious decision not to write about the things I was not qualified to write about. I would never have the time to live the subject as I had in full-time change management. When I wrote, I would write from the heart and stick to subjects I had true experience of. Anything else, I would hand over the baton to those more qualified. A self imposed rule I thought would fare me well.
So, when first considering June’s topics, I did not consider that I was best placed to write on World Refugee day.
Somewhere in my Grandfathers family tree are persecuted Huguenots, fleeing to England for their safety, and their story would no doubt be something to tell, but the limited reading I undertook in my twenties would not prevent me from breaking my self imposed rule.
Yet here we are. Awash in the current news from the United States of America, I am drawn to something I am simultaneously both ignorant of and absolutely an expert in.
I am no expert on foreign laws or policies. I make no claims to understand the intricacies of an ugly, and desperate, situation. I am sure there will be people amongst the human suffering that are trying to abuse a broken system, but the love I feel for my child and the absolute fear of ever being parted? It is comparable only to the love she feels for me and her need, absolute need, to feel safe in my arms. The bond that we have cannot be replaced. I am her rock, her harbour, her haven. When she cries in the early hours, from nightmares she cannot fathom, she is soothed only by my presence. I need hold her only for moments, for that fear to pass and for a gentle smile to return. I know her like no one else knows her. Some days I know her better than she knows herself. I truly see her, and I unconditionally love every part of her. I know I would absolutely shatter inside if I were not allowed to be there for her. Just as I well know that I would do anything, anything, to protect her.
I have undertaken reading, I have watched interviews and reports, and I remain someone who cannot speak with authority on a legal and logistical nightmare, but I am a mother who knows that punishing an innocent child for something someone else may or may not have done solves nothing and breaks everything.
As I write, I know that an executive order has been signed, but, as is continually being reported, that does not repair the damage already done. Children will not return to their families immediately. Those separated will need support, and assistance in hopefully re-connecting with their loved ones. It is being reported that some may not be re-united at all. They will need help in dealing with the trauma, whatever the outcomes.
If I were ever to be separated from my daughter, I would be begging anyone and everyone for any assistance possible, and it is with this in mind, that from now until the end of July 2018, 25% of the profits of e-book purchases made through the highcroftwriting.com/store will be donated to togetherrising.org as part of their current ‘Love Flash Mob', which was launched to support vetted charities who currently have 'boots on the ground'.
To read more about Together Rising and their approach, please go togetherrising.org or https://momastery.com/blog/2018/05/29/emergency-love-flash-mob-for-the-children/
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As always, if you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this piece, please consider whether you would benefit from accessing relevant support.
Photo credit : @writingattheendoftheday, Instagram 20 June 2018.
See https://writingattheendoftheday.blogspot.com/2018/06/they-did-not-earn.html for the related poem.
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