Living In The Past

Anika’s Zen and the Power of Gratitude. A new weekly column. Every Sunday.

 

I rarely think about those who came before us. The question came up when someone recently asked me if I usually think about the past. And I realized that living in the past is something that I do unconsciously. But not in the sense of reveling in it.

 

The Past

 

No part of me, for instance, wants to be high school again! For one, I kept changing schools every 3 years, so my chances of getting to know anyone in school were almost zero. Two, I don’t know if I really knew myself back then. I had no idea who I was or what I wanted to become. I was short and boys used to intimidatingly come up to me, with an “Hey Shorty” attitude. The memory stuck with me so much that even at 5 feet 2 inches, it needed my Taekwondo master to convince me that ‘short’ is relative and can be a strength (remember Napoléon Bonaparte?)!

 

 

I don’t think I understood what friendship meant in school either, having never really had the time to make one over a long period. Let’s just say that I have spent the rest of my life understanding what it takes to become a friend. Am I good at it yet? It’s a process, but I do know that when it comes to counting friends today, I will make it to a couple of lists.

 

College

 

Then came college and even though I might reminiscence about it, I still would not want to go back to my college days. Perhaps the only thing I would change about my college experience is the chance to study harder. I did everything college offered – debates, elocution, extempore, nature-related travel, tree planting, cleaning beaches and taking part in a few pageants. Looking back, despite doing all this, I still struggled to find myself as a person.

 

Taking Education for Granted

 

It was the ‘Year of the Girl Child’ when I started college. This meant that my tuition was 25% of what male students paid. And I did not even realize this till I actually paid my tuition.

I took for granted that I could go to school as well as college and be treated equally. But it was thanks to Savitri Phule and Fathima Sheikh, that my education was possible. They started the first school for girls in 1948 and had 3 more running in Pune, India by 1951. Fathima Sheikh, who worked closely with Savitribai Phule for educating girls, is regarded as the first female Muslim teacher in India.

Closer to my new home, Margaret Fuller, is considered to be America’s first true feminist. She defied the limitations placed on women’s access to higher education. She became the first woman to seek and be accepted at Harvard University. Margaret was a journalist, teacher and an activist. She is best known for the initiation of ‘conversations’, a series of seminars for women that were held in Boston between 1839 and 1844. These were among the first such formats for women’s’ continued adult education.

 

The Right to Vote

 

Last year, I voted like my life depended on it. Because it did. I was on a mission to have a say in the formation of my government – whether it was at the county, state or country level. And vote I did. I used my pen to finalize my options and sent it along, ensuring its legacy as a small but critical part of the process in choosing a new government, right up to the presidential level.

How easy it was to seal a paper and drop it into a box, a few miles from my home. But the women’s right to vote is only about 100 years old, thanks to the 19th amendment that was passed in 1920. Come to think of it, that makes my vote last year that much special – marking the 100th anniversary of our freedom to vote. A right that so many, literally gave up their lives, to make happen. It took speeches, signed petitions, parades and arguments over and over again to establish that women, like men, deserved all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Women like Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone and Ida B. Wells were collectively committed to the enfranchisement of all American women.

Susan B. Anthony, was born on February 15, 1820 to a Quaker family in Massachusetts. Anthony was raised to be independent and outspoken. Her parents, like many Quakers, believed that men and women should study, live and work as equals and should commit themselves equally to the eradication of cruelty and injustice in the world. Perhaps there is hope for my daughter (and son), who, I am raising to be independent and outspoken.

 

Tree Hugger

 

 

I wonder where I got my green love from and realize that Jane Goodall has been one of my biggest influencers. Formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, she is an English primatologist and anthropologist.

Considered to be the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, she is best known for her 60-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees since first going to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960. She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots program. Jane has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues and is an honorary member of the World Future Council.

Another influencer has been Sir David Frederick Attenborough. Best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural history documentary series forming the Life collection constitute a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth.

His latest series, Life in Color, is single-handedly responsible for all the flowering plants that I bought for my garden today! While David Attenborough’s earlier work focused more on the wonders of the natural world, his later work has been more vocal in support of environmental causes. He has been a constant advocate for restoring planetary biodiversity, limiting human population growth, shifting to renewable energy, reducing meat consumption, and setting aside more areas for natural preservation.

 

The Roads Before Me

 

Remember my love for miles of endless, open roads? Henry Ford’s relentless passion for cars is a big part of the reason for America’s amazing roads!

Henry Ford debuted the low-priced, mass-produced Model T Ford in 1908, making it a dream within reach for many Americans. It created the desire for good roads. And thus, was born the Federal-Aid Road Act of 1916 that created the Federal-Aid Highway Program. This funded state highway agencies so they could make road improvements.

Our entry into World War II swung the focus to building roads even more, where the military needed them. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation authorizing a network of rural and urban express highways called the “National System of Interstate Highways.” Ambitious but unfunded, it was only after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 that the Interstate program got under way.

The Interstate Highway System employed highway engineers for decades and was a massive public works project and achievement. It became a reality over the next two decades, opening 99% of the designated 42,800 miles of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

 

They Came Before Me

 

 

As a woman, growing up, I took for granted my right to education, to walk the roads and be safe, the right to vote and most importantly, to be treated equally.

I take for granted that when it comes to work, if two people are performing the same role, they should be paid equally. If both are equally qualified for a role, they should have equal opportunities to be considered for it. Post which, may the ‘best’ candidate win. But we have a long way to go. As I write this, women in the U.S. who work full time, year-round are paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to men. And for women of color, the wage gap is even larger. Women also earn less than men in almost all occupations and as I had mentioned in one of my previous columns, women are also less represented when it comes to the C-suite.

We have a long way to go. But I look back and am grateful to all those who fought to make the things I do today, the norm! Whether it is Jane Goodall, Savitri Phule, Fathima Sheikh, Henry Ford or Susan B. Anthony – there are a mere (but important) representation of all those who came before me to make today possible. And for that I am deeply grateful.

Coming back to the original question – do I think about the past? Yes, I do. And just like those who are no more today, I am grateful for all those who, today, unknown to me, are making tomorrow possible for my children, especially my daughter. Most importantly, as the pandemic continues, I am grateful to be here today, to raise an ode to the past!

 

Read my previous blogs below:

• Anika’s Zen and the Power of Gratitude
• Sack Full of Breaths
• The Power of Silence: A Date with Myself
• Travel Through the Glass
• The Elusive Trophy
• The Joy of Everyday
• Does Love Have a Color?
• My Neighborhood, My Tribe
• The Snow Persisted
• Lucky Me, a Woman
• Science, the Real Hero
• Where Diamonds Fail
• An Optimistic World
• This Thing Called Blah
• Hope Springs Eternal
• The Prodigal Returns Home

 

Anika Sharma is a digital thought leader, a mother, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. She was recently named as one of the top 150 digital global leaders to follow in 2021. When she is not busy working or raising her two teenage children, you can find her planting herbs in her garden, meditating with her friends, swimming long laps or filling rooms with her cackling laughter. Contact her at anikadas@gmail.com or on twitter

 

If you enjoyed this blog, read about the Many Benefits of Gratitude, Covid-19: How I am Learning to Cope, Seven Ways to Manage Your Emotions, Covid-19 and Beyond and the Rules of Simple Living.