Kamala Harris,
The FIRST black VP of the USA,
The FIRST black woman VP of the USA,
The FIRST South Asian American VP of the USA,
The FIRST VP of the USA who is a step mom.
While there are celebrations all around, shouldn’t we question why the world’s most powerful country is so late to the party? Developing nations, often called ‘conservative’ and ‘less progressive’ have had women at the helm of the top political office well before the USA. PM Indira Gandhi in India, PM Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh and PM Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan have been strong women heads of state in Asia.
Having said that, it’s never too late to achieve your firsts. And so it’s time to celebrate the likely VP of the United States. Her middle name is Devi – if she doesn’t define the modern day goddess, who can? In her victory speech at Wilmington, Delaware, she said, “while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before, but know that we will applaud you every step of the way.”
Truer words have never been spoken. The best judge of our individual potential is ourselves, and I would go further to add that our best yardstick is therefore also ourselves. Having said that, I know that we all need a frame of reference to make decisions, move ahead in life and even to formulate our goals. We benchmark ourselves against what we see in the world around us – emulate leaders who we identify with and stand up against the powers that oppress us.
So, when we come across rare leaders like Kamala Harris – who not just tread the road to success, but create it, we must stop, watch and learn. It’s difficult enough to emulate the journey of leaders, imagine how difficult it must be to create your own journey, to be the FIRST.
Kamala Harris talks well, acknowledges graciously, smiles warmly and embraces whole-heartedly. Despite authoring so many firsts, she tries to come across as one of us. She is every migrant, every black person, every young girl and most importantly every woman. She is everyone who ever stood a chance, the only difference is that she kept at it, she worked her way towards her goal and she didn’t let her insecurities come in the way of her dreams. Imagine how different her life would be, if she had told herself that no black woman had ever become the Vice President of the world’s most powerful country.
She started her victory speech with a quote from the late Congressman John Lewis, “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.” What holds true for democracy, holds doubly true for life. There is a wide chasm between intention and action, and positive change can only come from acting on our dreams and aspirations with every ounce of our effort. Kamala Harris has breached several new frontiers, and her legacy will be that she has paved the way for others to follow, perhaps even do one better – yet forever she will remain the first. In her own words, “…I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last…”. I wholeheartedly wish that her prophecy comes true, sooner rather than later. In my decades of experience, I have worked with women across levels and cultural settings, and they have taught me some of my most valuable lessons. Creative problem-solving, temperament, teamwork and empathetic leadership are just some of the qualities that come naturally to women in leadership positions, and I have no doubt that not just America, but the world will have a lot to learn from Kamala Harris.
Since our childhood, goddesses from mythological books have laid the foundations of our value system. Time will tell what modern-day lessons this ‘Devi’ has for us. May she be the first of many such women leaders the world over. The world will then truly be a better place. Better late than even later.
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