The lack of humanity.
For those of you reading this, who don’t know me, hubby and I, have a daughter, named Bella, who is six years old, and she is one of the wisest six-year-old's you’ll probably ever meet. Many say her mother's daughter.
She’s watched her grandmother deteriorate due to Motor Neuron Disease until her last day, she’s seen her dad go through a life threatening injury, then depression from that injury threatening his life, and she saw it first hand. And the saddest part about this, is the actions of others after what had happened to cause that injury, could have stopped that cycle of depression.
She’s seen the slums of India, where all Australians see as ‘poor’ - when they’re actually very rich in life, because what they don’t have in money, they have in each other - the sense of community. And when I introduce us as “Hi, I’m Suzannah, one of the fairest Australians you’ll meet, who was raised in Papua New Guinea, raised by two dads (possibly now three), a lawyer mum, oh, and I forgot to mention we’re adopted into a Punjabi family (cue the six year old Aussie speaking Punjabi)”, people’s jaws drop.
She came home the other day, and said “Mum, I need more tap shoes…”
The $80.00 tap shoes that we bought a few weeks ago, are no longer. The modern generation reading this would immediately assume they’ve been stolen, and this is the point of this blog today. The modern generation.
They hadn’t been stolen. You see, #ULTISpro is an extraordinary vision where we use our power for purpose. We rid of any excuse for people to not be happy, or successful, or kind. We are changing the world, and changing lives, one human, and one business at a time.
And it’s kids like Bella, that influence our vision. We raised her to be kind.
Just like the recently ended winter of Melbourne, where our daughter in 4-degree weather, decided to give her coat to someone else at school whose parents couldn’t afford one, she gave her tap shoes to someone at her dance school, that was struggling to pay their fees.
We’ve raised her to know we will help anyone who’s struggling in life, but she’s now learning, that to do that, she needs to look after herself too.
I was asked to write this blog by a client recently, and here it is. I am engaged by people and businesses to be a problem solver, and well, they all say “If someones going to sort it, it will be Suzannah…”
It was one of my closest, long term clients who said, write about it, after I mentioned my Tier 1 client going through immense cycles of depression and suicidal thoughts, and first hand witnessing that 'disease' spread to their their family and children. The industry is rife with it, the individuals are either suffering and/or causing it, and here I am, tasked to resolve a multi million dollar business dilemma, and suddenly engaged to be a mentor for the family, and children. That client has mentioned numerous times, if it weren't for me, he would have necked himself, and their child self lodged themselves into care, and thank god, all of that is now in the past, and the whole family is back on track thanks to our problem solving abilities.
I’ve been through a lot between 2014 and 2019, and most of my friends have said they don’t know how I didn’t hang myself dealing with it all, and here I am to tell you - if I can survive the sh&t, and be kind, so can every other individual.
I’ve been bullied, and for all the medical reports and expert insight the news can get their hands on regarding suicide and depression, that stops with every damn individual and their actions. The categories need to stop, because I have had a person in the 'youth' category bullying and harassing me for years. Bullying does not judge on age.
It’s a pretty strong comment to make, but I’m of the belief toxic people endorse depression and suicide.
This comes from my experience being bullied, but also my experience working with all walks of life. What is missing in these humans lives? Humanity, opportunity, and action. Well, we resolve all of the above with our vision.
When I was a kid, I was bullied, and that key bully, who I had nothing to do with my entire life, lost their sibling to suicide. It went on for years, through two different schools, the same bully. My mother told me to ignore it, jealousy is a curse. Until it went on from Grade 8, to three years out of school. I had had enough, so, the last time I saw that bully, who had become an advocate for a charity doing their part to help those struggling with depression, I looked them in the eye, and told them, you do realise your sibling committed suicide because of depression, and bullies, and that is exactly what you are doing to me, which means you endorse this. Nonetheless, they never bothered me again after this. I felt awful, but it did the trick.
I have trolls, in fact fully dedicated stalkers who watch my every move, and I wish them the best in life, but of all my trolls I’ve spoken to directly, I ask them, do you support suicide and depression? Their immediate response is no, and then I remind them their actions speak louder than their words.
If you have a problem with someone, communication is key, pick up the phone, remain civil and say "I have a problem I want to resolve" with an upbeat tone, and you'll quickly notice how easy it is to resolve something before it gets to the stage of trolling and toxic behaviour.
This happens on all levels of society, the top % as mentioned above, and everyone else.
A perfect example of this is recently, Bella came with me to my office, in Melbourne’s CBD. We were out the front speaking with our local homeless man, who has a beautiful dog, and we happily buy him what he needs. He’s homeless because his dog is family, and we will, eventually, start collecting property in Melbourne to do the same as what we do in Queensland, to provide for people with special needs.
Mid conversation, another homeless man came running towards us, and started punching our homeless friend, within a metre of my daughter and I. Our homeless friend said calmly “There’s a child there, stop.” - and the other man’s response was “that child is going to see a lot worse in her life, you child rapist”.... Well, here’s the thing. We don’t bubble wrap our daughter, she witnessed it, our friend didn’t engage, he took the punches, always mindful of us, and we don’t judge, so the offender’s tactic did not work.
We did our bit to stop the fight, as police strolled down the street, and went to arrest our friend. Bella yelled “it wasn’t his fault”. The two police officers stopped, and I thought quick to clear the situation up, and much to the offender’s disgust, handed our friend some money, got him food and drink, and we continued our day.
Weeks later, in a completely different suburb, that same good homeless friend of ours, unknowingly saved our little Houdini of a ShihTzu in the middle of a busy road as she escaped her harness. This is what we call fate, and very, very good karma.
Kindness does not cost a thing, no matter your position in life.
The real cause of depression and suicide is the negative influences of everyday.
Let’s put an end to toxic behaviour, and then we will see, the rates of depression and suicide reduce substantially. A bad attitude is the disease.
To those of you who have been in a really bad situation in life, been bullied, or life just won’t give you a break, I’m sorry, but life is not over, nor do the bad treatment or actions of someone else give you an excuse to be toxic. The sh&t stops with you.
How is this relevant to ULTISpro?
We don't categorise humans, every individual comes to us, no matter their income or position for help, to solve problems through strategy, in business and in life. We've removed the excuses or barriers:
"I can't afford it" - Yes you can, we'll show you how.
"I can't do it" - Yes you can, we'll show you how.
We don't give up. and nor should you.
BUT... We are very clear with discipline. It doesn't matter how rich you are, if you break our rules of kindness, you get cut off from the investment, or our service every person loves. People say money makes the world go round, well, yes, we are home to a very powerful investment, but with us, kindness trumps this.
We re-invest our fees into our investment to provide starting capital for those who need it, and our services can be paid in our #payitforward currency, or via traditional methods.