(NewsletterMagazine)
AssumptaGH International Publications featured J. “PROGRESS”.
Is Care Fundamental to The Basic Functioning of Our Economies and Societies? A voice of courage that symbolises the renewal of care in our country.
JACKIE:
It is precisely when times are dark and gloomy that people should advance with dynamism and good cheer, making problems a springboard to achieving a more expansive life.
TSASI
Let me quote the creed of the composer Beethoven: “Out of suffering, joy.” “Joy is infectious,” he advised the audience, sharing the words of Danish philosopher Kierkegaard: “No one is more capable of giving instruction on the subject of joy than he who is himself joyous.”
JACKIE
I will encourage the Leaders of Ghana to brighten and lift the spirits of those around them and to always proceed with courage, and with confidence that there is no adversity that cannot be overcome through their sincere desire for the happiness of the Ghanaians. And always pray earnestly for their happiness and well being. That is the role of leaders.
My name is Jackie Appiah, a Canadian-born Ghanaian actress. For my work as an actress, I have received several awards and nominations, including the awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2010 Africa Movie Academy Awards; and Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2007. I also received two nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Upcoming Actress at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2008.
TSASI:
How did you strengthen your capacity as an Actress?
JACKIE:
I strengthened my life force and expanded my capacity when I decided to play my acting role to being joy to others through TV screens and helping them become happy.
TSASI
Your concern is understandable. We face all sorts of challenges in our daily lives that pull us in different directions, so naturally, it may feel counterintuitive to add one more thing to your already full plate. But from the perspective of faith, the more challenges we tackle head-on, the more opportunities we have to expand our capacity and grow as human beings. This is why a strong life condition is crucial.
JACKIE
Specifically, supporting and caring for others in my acting role is another way of making efforts for peace through acting is the most direct way I have improved my ability to care for myself and others.
When we look after and care for others, that is, help others draw forth their life force, our own life force increases. When we help people expand their state of life, our state of life also expands.
TSASI
As a Buddhist I may say that is the wonderful thing about the bodhisattva way. The practice for benefiting others is one and the same with the practice for benefiting ourselves.
Our lives and the lives of others are ultimately inseparable. It is vital, therefore, that we follow the bodhisattva way.” (The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, vol. 1, pp. 104–05)
Leaders exist for the sake of the people; leaders should respect and serve the people, making the people’s welfare their first priority. This was a central theme of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s address at the monthly Soka Gakkai leaders meeting on September 30, 2008, at the Soka International Friendship Hall in Tokyo. Our age requires a complete revolution in attitudes of leadership, Mr. Ikeda told the audience. “The essence of Buddhism lies in our behaviour as human beings,” and thus arrogance or self-conceit in leaders is extreme folly.
Men in particular, he continued, should always act with the greatest respect toward women and young women. It is the efforts of the women members, rooted in the realities of daily life, that have enabled the SGI’s Buddhist movement to reach its current state of development, he declared.
JACKIE:
You recalled how economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people. This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of the privileged few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most essential work, the unpaid and underpaid care work done primarily by women and girls around the world.
Tending to others, cooking, cleaning, fetching water and firewood are essential daily tasks for the wellbeing of societies, communities and the functioning of the economy. The heavy and unequal responsibility of care work perpetuates gender and economic inequalities.
This has to change. Governments around the world must act now to build a human economy that is feminist and values what truly matters to society, rather than fuelling an endless pursuit of profit and wealth. Investing in national care systems to address the disproportionate responsibility for care work done by women and girls and introducing progressive taxation, including taxing wealth and legislating in favour of carers, are possible and crucial first steps.
TSASI
With love and respect, ” Leaders should always put citizens before their own comfort and personal interests.”
Rushing to the aid of citizens in need with a thought for oneself, this calls to mind our women in society.
Thank you Jackie for your contribution.
