This week has been a week to be proud of living in Greater Manchester. A week where emotional intelligence, purpose, representation and participation have come to the fore.
Both in the community and reflected in its leaders too. For once, we find ourselves connected with representatives who we believe stand for the same things we do and are prepared to use the skills, expertise and resources they have available to them to make meaningful change.
Few would have imagined Marcus Rashford would emerge as one of the great leaders of 2020. Nor that Andy Burnham would be hailed King of the North. Yet here we are.
The reason I founded Be Braver, was largely because I knew that the problems I wanted to fix in the world, would most likely not be fixed by me, but that my contribution is in helping others to create change, to pursue their ideas, to overcome fears, connect with purpose and meaning and to solve the problems in the world that need fixing.
There is a lot to choose from.
No-one wants to live a meaningless life. We all have a contribution to make this world a better place, to save the future. We are all ordinary people capable of extraordinary things.
I am firmly of the belief that every one of us has the capacity to be the hero that we see in Marcus Rashford. He may have a different set of resources available to him as a consequence of his footballer status, but it is the decision he has made to use the resources he has for good, that stands him apart.
This is a choice that we all have.
We can all have the courage to look back over our lives and find the moments that have defined us, angered us, shaped us, hurt us or taught us valuable lessons.
For it is in our connection to these deeply unique experiences that we find the places where can shape and influence in this world. Where we can draw on our lived experiences to find the motivation, commitment, drive and determination to create change for good.
To find solutions, to develop innovations, to stop it happening again, to make it possible again.
We are all change-makers. We all need to be change-makers. If we don’t live a life with courage and conviction we don’t grow, we don’t connect and we don’t learn.
So as you find yourself crying over Marcus Rashford tweets as many say they have, don’t be passive. Look to your own resources. Ask yourself the question, what do I have to offer to make the world a better place? What experiences have shaped me that give me meaning that I can use to create change?
Marcus Rashford and Andy Burnham may well deservedly so be are this weeks heroes of Greater Manchester. But you can be too.
It is time to realise that this world needs you to #beyourownHERo. To #bebraver. To #beachangemaker