Liderazco Es Mas Que Dar Un Saco de Arroz: Reflections on International Human Rights Day

Over the last 12 years, I have thought lots about leadership. What is leadership? Leadership is the ability to move, inspire and make a statement. The ability to articulate a point of view, to move that idea to be the idea of others and to win the heart and minds of a people. Leadership is the ability to know when to act, to surrender, to be loud, to be silent. It is an artform that only becomes developed through practice.

However, there are two major obstacles to leadership that every one of us encounters on a daily basis, fear and ego. Fear sometimes protects us from doing the wrong thing but most of the time it deters us from doing the daring and necessary. Ego on the other hand allows us to believe that we are the end all and be all. Our ego does not allow for the flow of positive energy, it blocks and creates barriers between individuals. It is extremely difficult to put it aside.

So why do I write about this topic today? I am very disappointed in the leadership of my community. While recognizing all of the wonderful things that have been created, barriers broken and the strides made over the years, I am disappointed in that 1) we don't really value one another (unless somebody dies), 2) there is no real space for nurturing and developing leadership -but there is definitely a space to critize, discourage and breakdown leadership, 3) there is no initiative to be LOUD, to defy, to say what exactly we want.

What do I want? I want to see my community expand its own notion of what is leadership, to be purposeful in its' nurturance and development, to be fearless against the establishment/the machine. There is this paradigm of you are either with us or against us, it is black or white, there is no in between and there is no room for independence. That we have to deal with what we got, people just want "un saco de arroz" and that there is no hope in the future leadership.

I want to seek to challenge these perceptions that we have about one another, that our communities deserve the best -not this mediocre crap we have been dealing with all of our lives. I want to strive to create a new cadre of leaders that will think, write, and create. Leaders who have passion, vision and a mission. Leaders who can learn to do it all -be balanced, healthy and strong.

The International Human Rights community has always been consider the most lofty and intellectual side of social movements. I think we must bring that loftiness to our local struggles. We need more writers, artists, social commentators, bloggers, elected leaders who embody the full range of what it means to be activists.

To create change means having a framework, an infrastructure, the word and action. I call on my leaders to write, to be loud, to live happy balanced lives and to demand the best! I call on myself to live out my vision for myself and for the world.