1 Year On: Standing Strong
Exactly one year ago, I was subjected to a pre-planned business fiasco. The intention was to get me out because I had proven I would not comply with unethical practices and because I was close to the owner, my threat to the top seat seemed legit. I would never have believed the person capable of such atrocities if anyone had told me this previously. Because I endured it, I know it was real. In the process, the physical, mental and psychological toll was painful and arduous. For months I endured, standing alone in an apparently well-established institution, subjected to constant insidious abuse and alienation.
In any other circumstance, I would have taken legal action, filed FR cases and ensured the people concerned were hauled over the coals for eternity. But I have learned in life that to wage a war, the opponent must be a worthy adversary. One does not throw stones at every dog that barks – you only attack that which is worth your time, effort and bandwidth. In this instance, a weakling with poor character and his thug sidekick was hardly worth my mind space. Instead, I removed myself from the situation. I ensured though, that the specimens would be facing the music in due course and sure enough, it is heartening to see their faces get wiped in the mud with no effort from me – and the retribution is just beginning. Because one reaps what one sows, and this lesson has been drummed into fools’ heads time and time again, yet those with no moral compass or strength of character, fail to learn.
There were many who cautioned me that it is not worth fighting the system, this is the norm in corporates, you can’t do anything about it blah blah. Well, murder happens daily, corruption is rife, does that mean you don’t fight it if it happens to you? I don’t agree with just batting on because it is “normal”. There is nothing normal about abuse – whether it happens in private, public or in the workplace. Everyone blindly following along is the very reason it keeps getting worse. Those of us privileged enough to have a voice and the backing to stand up on our own, should fight these demons because blind adherence and apathy is the reason they have gone on for too long. The current goings on in the country – death sentences for IGPs and Defence Ministers and suspicious deaths of those who turned a blind eye to corruption – should be lessons to those who think silence is the answer. Silence is assent – you do not sit quietly and allow shit under your nose when you are powerful enough to stop it or step away. You will eventually pay with your dignity and your life. And my dignity is not a tradeable commodity – no matter how big the person or the corporation.
Hence, I continue on my journey – grateful to many who have stood by me and with me and grateful to the spineless gits who proved that I am by virtue of existing, a legit threat to their paltry, servile existence. Life sometimes kicks us out of our comfort zones and for that I am grateful as I know for me, sky is not the limit and my upward trajectory has already begun.
Fortes fortuna adiuvat.
