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Cultural Diversity: Replacing Fear with Fulfillment Jahan Kalantar is a legal practitioner who stands up for what right despite his experience with racism and discrimination is based on his appearance. As a HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, he actively fights for the rights of refugees to stay in Australia and believe that with the right mindset, every individual can contribute to the improvement of society as a whole. law firms sydney He was invited to share a few words of courage and wisdom at the Solidarity Awards at the Petersham in Sydney, Australia. Jahan delivered a speech about cultural diversity and how to eliminate fear from the Australian psyche. Given his background as a CRIMINAL AND BUSINESS LAWYER with a Persian heritage, his insights definitely prove valuable and relatable to today’s society. Jahan began his motivational speech by thanking the organisation for bringing to light the value to be found in a community. He added that volunteering is one of the best things you can do to contribute to yours. Volunteering is the cornerstone of what it means to be a genuine and giving person and “the value of a person's time is the greatest asset we have,” Jahan said.
Jahan also shared that despite how things may appear, English is not his first language. In fact, when his family first moved to Australia from Iran he didn’t speak English until he was 6 or 7 years old. He even went to ESL classes to learn the language. He then moved forward with the gist of his speech. Apparently, the CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYER has been asked by many of his friends, coworkers, and colleagues the same question; “How do we go from fear to performing? How do we overcome our fears? Through his years of experience with people, professionals, and of course, the personal struggles he has faced throughout his life and career, Jahan gathered that the first step to answering that question is by understanding what fear is. “Fear is irrational,” Jahan started, citing one of the common irrational human fears; arachnophobia. People fear these tiny creatures despite how low of a threat spiders actually pose to human life. In fact, only a small percentage of spiders have venom and those spiders are actually utilised by science to concoct anti-venoms. However, even if we are armed with a knowledge of spiders and science, many of us will still run to the opposite corner of the room the moment we spot a spider. Listening to this now, we realize how silly we are when we act on our irrational fear of spiders. None of the facts matter when faced with fear because that is how fear works; it comes from a primitive place. Fear causes us to make “snap judgements” as Jahan mentioned, and although it serves an important purpose in survival, those thoughts still come from our worst inner places. Jahan then proposed an antidote in the form of a popular book and animated motion film - “Charlotte’s Web.” According to the Sydney-based solicitor and BUSINESS LAWYER, the story presents a deeper, yet extremely valuable lesson. “Just because you fear something, doesn’t necessarily mean that you should embrace that fear.” A well-said sentiment indeed. Nurturing this kind of mindset allows you to act rationally in the face of fear, in this case, when faced with a spider at one in the morning. The rational thing to do is get a glass and a piece of paper, trap the arachnid and move it outside where it can’t bother you with its presence and generous amount of appendages. Jahan then linked the fear of spiders and how we easily react irrationally to it, to how easy it is for us to make people into something they are not and how hard it is to stand against this behaviour. Nearing the end of his speech, Jahan also presented the audience with another very valuable insight. He shared his experience in a restaurant in Los Angeles where he encountered someone dining who was very similar to him. He himself fell victim to the human tendency to
define the other person in contrast to himself, based on the way that the other person acted, looked, and talked. Considering that Jahan and his family carries a strong tradition of being rigorous and actively participating in events, when the music came on, he and his family went dancing. In the other table, he noticed another family looking solemn and displayed no interest in involving themselves with the festivities. Jahan thought to himself, “what’s the matter with them?” Thinking rather negatively about the reason behind their lack of interest in dancing. However, he was able to stop himself in the midst of everything, realising that he was in no place to separate himself from another person. Given that the other person was very similar to him, it was still easy for him to make snap judgements which he realised later, was wrong. Another thought came to mind soon after. “If it is this easy to judge someone very similar to me, how much easier can it be to do the same to someone from a completely different race and culture? Being able to understand first, before judging is a challenge every person has to face every day. If we want to move forward, we have to hold off our worst demons. It is very easy to make someone into someone they are not, but it is hard to remember these fundamentals that help us perform; to be loved, to provide for those we care about, and to help make this world a better place. Jahan’s speech defines how skilled he is when it comes to getting a message across using simple but genuine words. His words are indeed something to ponder as we face the struggles of daily life, and if we do, we are one step closer to performing better and being a better person.