NEWSLETTER: VIRTUE, SUCCESS, GRATITUDE

Humility is the Foundation of Virtue

Be kind to yourself, and in return be kind to others

“The best of people is the one who humbles himself the more his rank increases.” Prophet Muhammad

I came across this article about an employee engagement program called WeDash that is part of the DoorDash business model. The program which was created back in 2013 requires each office personnel, including the CEO, to make deliveries once a month or they could choose to shadow a customer service agent. I believe this plan is brilliant because not only does it give the office employees and executives a first-hand perspective on the functionality of the DoorDash model, but it also helps with the humanitarian efforts of DoorDash as all the money earned by each employee is donated to a nonprofit organization.

Unfortunately, this program was not universally accepted by all DoorDash’s employees. In fact, one specific employee who is an engineer with a salary of almost half a million dollars per year has anonymously complained about becoming a delivery driver for one day. The unwilling employee reacted in a post entitled “Doordash making engineers deliver food.”

I was shocked at the reaction of this engineer as I believed that they should have been more open to this experience. But then, I thought about it, and I have concluded that perhaps that employee believes that their status and position should have excluded them from doing the “dirty work”. Unfortunately, as some of us make more money and escalate up the corporate ladder, we sometimes lose our humility and turn a blind eye to those who keep the machine running.

I wouldn’t want to force my employees to participate in something they are unwilling to do, however, this exercise could potentially create a new perspective, especially for those unwilling participants by showing them that by being less prideful and by adopting a dose of humility, they could become blessings for others.

Perhaps once the engineer has completed the task, he/she will be humbled and view the WeDash program in a more positive way because I believe that humility is the foundation of all virtue.

Do you believe humans are naturally virtuous or are we prideful and selfish beings? I believe virtue is a learned behavior that we gain over time, therefore, if we are not consistently taught how to show compassion and be morally good, chances are we might end up prideful and selfish human beings. Does that make someone a bad person, not necessarily — it means that at their current level of consciousness, whether voluntary or involuntary, they don’t see the need to want to improve themselves.

As we embark upon the new year, I chose to explore the topic of virtue because day by day many people are slowly losing their way. However, there are also humans who are discovering the beautiful beings that they are, and they are showing compassion to their fellow humans. My hope is that we can find ways to bridge the gap between each other, and perhaps mend the brokenness while we collectively restore the spirit of humanity. Restore the virtue that some of us lost along the way. Be kind to yourselves, and in return, be a bit kinder to others.

Hello again my Opinionated family, this is the fourth edition of our very unconventional newsletter. We are still going strong, 4 months in — hell yea!!! It just occurred to me that I have never reached out to you all to determine if any of you would like to contribute something to this monthly bulletin or better yet, write the newsletter itself. I love writing these newsletters because I feel like I am having an informal conversation with you all, but I don’t mind giving that space to another willing writer. Just hit me up and let me know if you’re interested. [email protected]

Last month, I promised to be brief, but as usual, I began writing and the words kept on pouring out, so I said screw it and I went with the flow. This month, I will keep it short, I gotta for once keep my damn promise and follow my own read time rule, ugh. So here goes nothing…

• Gratitude and the New Year: To all the writers, readers, contributors of UO publication, I personally would like to thank you for being authentically you and thank you for teaching me to become more open-minded. As we enter the new year, my hope for you is that your 2022 will be a year of growth and progress. At times, we lose sight of our vision of our future, but in order to succeed, we must remain diligent and work hard to get to that finish line. So, for 2022, I implore you to invest in yourself, dream big, and create the life that you desire. Happy New Year — peace and blessings, and much success to you all.
• A Warm Welcome to All the New Writers: I am super excited that we added so many new writers and poets to the UO family last month. A few of you have already written articles, and I admire the boldness in your writing. I would like to personally welcome you to the UO family again, and I hope that you will continue to respectfully share your unique perspectives with us. Warmest welcome to: Jenine Bsharah Baines, Nathan Ferido, Michael Centrone, Tom McLaughlin, Stuart Grant, Colby Hess, Sherrell Writes, Margaret Sitawa, Roxanne Barbour, Toya Qualls-Barnette, Alan Simpson, Ryan Klemek, Hamsalekha, Pam Winter, Jenny's Thoughts. Loren Lieberthal, Edward John, Ivy the Ginger Ninja, Rev. Sheri Heller, LCSW
• Medium Fatigue: Last month, I discussed some writers leaving the platform due to fatigue, and if you have not yet noticed, many more writers are choosing to move on. Perhaps Medium was merely a season for them, and now that the season is over, it is their time to depart. In the famous words of Kenny Rogers, “you’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” Walking away could be temporary, and for those of you who will return, we will be here to support your work. For all those who have decided to depart forever, we wish you success with all your future endeavors.
• Growth and Success: Congratulations to all the writers and poets of UO. Once again, the publication and the writers kicked ass over the last month. We have gained more readers, writers, and overall support from the Medium community. Without the writers, readers, “followers”, this would not be possible. You are all the building blocks of our solid foundation. Thank you for being part of this venture, and as we continue to grow, may we continue to be respectful and kind to each other.

Again, I find myself in this difficult spot where I rambled on for too long and now, I am running over the read time requirement, it sucks!!! But I am not worried about it too much because I am a bit of a rebel who believes that some rules are meant to be broken. If you have read to this point, I am grateful. Ok, ok, I am done now with what I wanted to say, I think👀👀👀.

As a reminder, please email me at [email protected] if you have questions or send me a private note and I will respond as soon as I can. I’m also open to one-on-one conversations via phone call because I find that verbal communication is the healthiest means to exchange thoughts and ideas.

Thank you to all the writers and readers of the pub, and if you would like to read the previous newsletters, they can be found here:

Until next time my UO peeps…keep spreading those unpopular opinions because we care about being real, not popular, and your opinions matter.

Be safe and I hope that you enjoyed the holiday with your families, friends, and loved ones. Happy New Year to you all, and let’s kick ass in 2022!!! #focused, #growth, #humility, #kindness, #respect, #rebel, #unpopularopinion

I would like to continue tagging all the writers and poets who have contributed to Unpopular Opinions. Thank you and I look forward to reading more of your opinionated pieces: Harry Seitz|Diepak Paul|Nichola Scurry|Michael Trigg|Joselromero $$$|Marcus|Mihai Brinas|Maxwell Jordan|Patrick M. Ohana|Kevin Jahleel Ishimwe|Dazzling Shene|S K|Anthi Psomiadou|Margie Willis|I. Trudie Palmer|Greg Proffit| Anthony Eichberger|Lila Juno|Terry L. Cooper|Shaun Banks|Bhavna Narula|Kira Dawn|Nah.|Alwia Al-Hassan|Nombuso Makhubu|Jace Loi| Gemini McCain|Calvin Lassiter|Carolyn Hastings|Ilana Lydia|Annelise Lords|Sahil Patel|Bobby Kountz|Anastasia H.|Mary Kay Ranger|Christophe Gagnon|Imad|K. Barrett|Taylor Moran|TC Hails|Diana C.|William Spivey|Frank Ontario|Jeremy Divinity|Brinas Mihaela|Myriam Ben Salem🦋|Camille Grady|Veronika Kaufmann|Breaking The Narrative|Kevin Alexander|Victoria Suzanne|George Blue Kelly|Will Staton|Ryan Klemek| Hamsalekha| Margaret Sitawa| Toya Qualls-Barnette| Colby Hess| Stuart Grant| John O'Neill| Ivy the Ginger Ninja| Nathan Ferido

Do you have an unpopular opinion that you would like to share? To become a writer for Unpopular Opinions, please see the guidelines below:

Thank you for reading the fourth edition of the Unpopular Opinions newsletter.