Veteran’s Day Heartbreak
As a veteran, I embody America’s ideologies. My dad moved from Guyana to the U.S. in the 1960s and graduated from law school. My mother, as a child, picked cotton in Darlington, South Carolina. They both taught me to believe that anything is possible in this country. I joined the military, not as a Republican or a Democrat, but as an American who wanted to serve a country that offers possibilities.
I served in the U.S. Army with people from all races, immigration statuses, states, and U.S. Territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa.
These brave, selfless soldiers from U.S. Territories served and gave their lives for the U.S. They come back as veterans, heroes yet cannot vote in presidential elections and do not have full congressional representation. So they have the right to die for our country but do not have a vote in who leads our government.
After leaving the military, I became a financial advisor. I remember being the only black female in my financial advisor training class of over 100. Because I believed in this country’s ideologies of possibilities, I never doubted that I belonged in that class. Almost 20 years later, as a black female CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP®), I represent less than 2% of all CFP®s.
Our country isn’t perfect. I embrace the ideologies of what makes this country great and accept the realities of our country’s flawed history and continuous struggles. I also embrace our right to think differently and still respect each other’s differences.
As a veteran, it breaks my heart to hear people demonize people who do not share their political beliefs even in places of worship. We have made someone’s political beliefs a referendum on their character and faith. My daughter can barely escape a conversation with her friends without hearing that people, based on their political party, are either “baby killers” who will take U.S. jobs away or they are “White supremacists” who will reverse the 13th amendment.
To quickly set the financial record straight, our economy has grown with Republican and Democratic administrations, and we’ve had recessions with both Republicans and Democrats in office.
In my lifetime, I’ve not seen our nation this divided. Our nation’s healing from this division starts with the person you see in the mirror. If everyone around you looks and thinks like the person in the mirror, I think that’s the first person that needs to change.
Get out of your bubble and have conversations with people who think differently. It’s not hard to say to someone, “Hey, we have (lived, worked, gone to school near each other, etc.) for a while, and I want to get to know you better.” Then the goal becomes to do twice the listening and half the talking.
I usually offer financial guidance, but my guidance this time is to invest in human capital and get to know people who are different than you. Even if the dialogue in your head is “I have friends of different colors,” I challenge you to ask about their experiences. I’ve known wonderful white friends for years who have no idea of my life experience as a black woman. For Veteran’s Day, I ask you to honor the beautiful diversity of our Armed Forces and celebrate that diversity with people who look, think, and grew up different from you.
