2025, a year to be seen, heard and acknowledged

I live in a tourist town. This means that when there is a long weekend or holidays, we have many out of towners. This also means that drivers will stop their cars or slow down without warning to take pictures with the mountains or mist as their backdrop. In the last 11 years, I have seen this behavior increasing in leaps and bounds. Quite intrigued and troubled with this observation, I was discussing this with a friend. Why have the lines between personal and private blurred?

Our conclusion, as a result of this fast changing pace of the world and the increasing population, we fear becoming anonymous. We fear being left out or left behind. We are afraid that we will be forgotten. We dread being unseen, unheard and unacknowledged.

We all resonate with these feelings. When I started working with the most marginalized people in our country, my feelings and perspective on me being seen, heard and acknowledged changed. Advocating for marginalized people and communities made me realise there are many in India who are truly unseen, unheard and unacknowledged, who have been led to believe that it is perfectly alright to live in obscurity and to live being ignored. They have quietly accepted they have no value, worth, freedom of speech, movement or livelihood. What I thought of as being unseen, unheard or unacknowledged, I realised was more my desire to be known, to be credited with a skill or the lack of which did not change who I was and what I had.

The harsh reality of individuals being robbed of an identity itself, fueled by anger and passion, led me to the choices I have made and continue to make. I believe all of us have the opportunity to develop another perspective, to do something different, perhaps even do more, to think differently and to count our blessings and not stop there but use our blessings to advocate for the truly unseen and unheard.

As one more year comes to an end, I celebrate with gratitude my freedom, my privileges and my blessings. As I look to 2025, I am challenged to use my freedom, privileges and blessings to make those marginalized to be seen, heard and acknowledged. I speak with confidence when I say that each of you reading this has already done the same, to use your blessings to bless others. I pray you continue to think and act differently and do more.

A very blessed New year to you and yours.

God bless you.