Reboot Podcast Episode #175 – Beyond the Self: Embracing Interconnectedness – with Luis Duarte

Memorable Quotes:

“These past six years for me in having deep conversations with my dad and my mom and myself, I have cried like I have never cried in a long time.” – Luis Duarte

“My dad used to say, Luis, just let the water run. Let the water run because that’s nature. It’s a mechanism to clean. It’s a mechanism to provide energy, to inspire. And when you hold it, it stings after a while. And I feel much more comfortable with my own healing mechanism with tears.” – Luis Duarte

“I went into this journey, self-journey of how am I repeating the same oppressive behaviors as a father, as a member of the community, as an educator, as an investor. And it was not easy. It was not easy to look into that mirror and say, wow, there’s so many things that I’m repeating in this system.” – Luis Duarte

“In Brazil, they would say that I’m a white person. In the US, I’m a Latino. In Mexico, I’m just Luis, I don’t know. We continue to put on these labels, but at the end of the day is how we are wired and how we see each other and how we are able to see the other person as a human being.” – Luis Duarte

“There’s this amazing sensitivity that when we’re younger, we feel the interconnectedness. We feel the interdependence of everything, nature, other human beings. But then as we grow up, the systems that we have in place, they just pushed it out.” – Luis Duarte

“If we can force a mother from Guatemala to push her baby through razor wire in an effort to stay alive in a country that celebrated for so long the symbol of the Statue of Liberty…If we can force that, we can easily force the extractive mindset on the only home that we have, this planet. Because not only do we fail to be with that immigrant, that migrant who is seeking nothing more than what my ancestors sought when they crossed oceans, then we can easily lose sight of the value of the home where we belong.” – Jerry Colonna

“How can I, as a leader of this company, be sure that I’m aware of the implications for all of it?” – Luis Duarte

“I don’t think the natural world needs us to be perfect, because what is perfection? It’s unnatural. As your father taught you, those tears, that’s nature. I think our task is to be mindful, is to be present, is to be with even the discomfort of recognizing that in a moment you fail to live up to your aspirations.” – Jerry Colonna