I can honestly say that there have only been a few moments in my life when I have actually been at a loss for words. They have been very few and far between but yesterday was one of them. Being in the presence of absolute greatness will do that to a girl. I was so blessed to have a chance to meet simply one of the greatest men, one of the greatest catalysts to social change, one of the greatest persons who have made significant impacts to poverty in the world, Dr. Muhammad Yunus. I'm sure there are a few of you out there who are saying "who?".
Ok, let me put it to you this way, Dr. Yunus is to social change what Wayne Gretzy, Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali was to sports. If he were a rock star his name would be Bono. If he were an actor he would be a Paul Newman. Ok, so now I'm pretty sure you've got the idea.
Yesterday afternoon, my friend Michelle Bake, who is also the Director of Marketing & Community Development here at FAME (in addition to being the founder of the Etobicoke Make Poverty History Group) and I were at the Metro Convention centre for a day of motivational speakers from Richard Zaslow (co-author of The Last Lecture) to Gary Kasparov (can you say Checkmate) to Barbara Walters (or for some of you Baba WaWa) to Michael Phelps (gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold....did I get them all?) to Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
During his speech Dr. Yunus talked about how he began the Grameen Bank, the development of social business and the future of capitalism. In 2006 Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Price for their work in the eradication of poverty and the development of the microeconomics movement in Bangladesh. He is the founder and the engineer of microcredit and is on a mission to try to build a world free of inequality and poverty. He believes that there is a way. When he spoke he was gentle and quiet. He brings with him a softness that makes you wonder how it is that he actually managed to achieve this place on the world stage. Yet there he was, sharing his message and his story. You could hear a pin drop in the room, it was that powerful. At the end of his presentation the room stood on its feet and my friend Michelle turned to me and said do you think there's any chance we'll get to meet any of these speakers. I told her probably not, more than likely they are all scooped up and off to some green room for refreshments and the press junket, after all, these are world renown people.
During the next speaker, who began sounding more like a used car sales man meets Donald Trump, we decided to step out to the lobby and have a look at the books for sale. As I was paying for my copy of Dr. Yunus's latest book, "Creating a World Without Poverty", Michelle elbows me and says...."Christine....it's him!" We look up and there he is, standing there, by himself, no one around us at all other than the woman processing my credit card purchase. We began babbling like a couple of girls who just bumped into Brad Pitt.
Dr. Yunus is just as warm and gracious face to face as he was on the stage in front of 5,000 people. As I spoke with him, he took my hand in his hand, cupping my hand with both of his hands. We asked him if he would mind signing our books. For ten minutes the world just stopped. I told him that my daughter Megan would have been over the moon to hear him and he asked me about her. When I told him she was at university he asked what she was studying and I smiled and said with a huge amount of great pride, International Development and then said "I believe that one of these days she'll be working with you...." I am awed by his presence and his grace. I am buoyed by his joy and belief that we have the innate ability to make changes, even if they are small ones. For the privilege of being here and living our lives we have a moral and social obligation to make a difference in the world. Yesterday, Muhammad Yunus simply reinforced that message in my heart. I am truly grateful for that moment.
Ask yourself this.....Today, what can I do to make this place I live in better, just one small thing. Then do it.
Respectfully,Christine
p.s. a word of thanks to Chair, Gregory Dickson for being so kind in providing this amazing opportunity to myself and Michelle to be a part of that special event. We are indebted to you and grateful for your generosity.
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