Invest in Impact. Invest in Meaning. - YouTube

Listen.

Somewhere out there a thirteen year old has decisions to make.

She needs to let go of her dreams of owning a pink Saree

and playing dress up with her own Barbie slim and slender as her hopes of continuing

school to learn more maths and history

Her education syllabus has been revised and she needs to learn how to smile with her

eyes as her 28 year old cousin-husband pries

through her dreams in search of his she needs to memorize kitchen recipes like

algebra understand that she makes a difference in

this world through household chores and since every girl is born to be a woman

there is no need for her to grow as a lady because since kids learn quickly then maybe

she should start early acquiring her maternal instincts and sense

of duty

She needs to learn about family pride and dignity.

She needs to understand that she must help her people.

She needs to learn about social responsibility.

Her name is Potential.

Potential braves through life like a lighthouse in a storm

always looking out for her husband's mood and the best way to

save money for food while making sure she takes just enough care

of herself with whatever leftovers to not look like someone whose life is already

over before they turned 18.

This is her degree.

And when she eventually graduates with her masters

she will have already mastered the art of smiling with her eyes even when the husband-cousin

comes home late drunk smelling of cheap jasmine attar

she will have mastered the kitchen recipes like the back of his hand

understood that she has made a difference in this world

by just holding back, keeping silent and not raising her hand

and since she is now a woman she has acquired the understanding and mastery

of her place in society.

Her sin is Poverty.

Her sin is that she couldn't bear.

that her eyes could not smile any longer her cheeks wouldn't blush any more

that her womb was only fertile for joy and love.

And now pregnant with guilt and hope she carried shame and ignorance on her beaten

back to a new village, rural opposite but full of opportunity

and gave birth to Courage, Discipline, Hard Work and Unity

because that is the better way to make decisions a better way to live

And though life has lent experiences on bad terms

she has learned that she can pay it back over the long term in small sums on easier terms

as long as she borrowed from solidarity, pays with solidarity, live by solidarity

and re-learn family pride and dignity re-learn how to help her people

re-learn her social responsibility live in a better social light and not become

socialites soft on social skills light on social bills

till social ills fill the empty space between front doors and window sills

desperation wills hunger kills poverty spills the beans

on what real impact means and how real meaning impacts

So this is for the rat pack the brat pack playing corporate black jacks

the lone wolves in the wolf pack angels and vampires signing blank cheques

on bloodpacts high scorers on career jetpacks

When you leave this room, bring this back:

Invest in impact.

Invest in inclusion.

Invest in meaning.

Take stock in their interests and make them yours

Take stock in knowing that you lent a hand accepting returns

in smaller sums over longer terms and not expecting your own interests to be returned

like how Grameen showed fresh greens to the social mean

with unconventional means so they could glean financial means without putting an end to

their living means helping fix the social fabric at its seams

a means to an end where the end justifies the means

So for those scaling the walls on the street with the tip of their Indexes

for those who pay, who do and who reap taxes those who maintain the socio-economical-political

axis Take this:

Shine the social light and gain the social sight

Fight the social fight to fix the social blight Fulfill your social right to charge the social

might and Inspire.

Inform.

Ignite.