Due to an exceptional situation, a few days ago, we hired a cleaning service and the company sent a wonderful woman to our home. As we were there, “going all out”, she opened the door of my office and asked, very politely and slightly surprised:

– Do you work in an office?

– Yes, but I’m working from home now.

– That’s what I want for my daughters. I want them to work SEATED.

Her purpose and motivation could be perceived in the poignancy of her voice and her eyes as she said “seated”. In that brief exchange, I learned what her greatest fear was. Her youngest daughter, only a few months old, had been diagnosed with achondroplasia and she was worried that the girl might some day be discriminated against or bullied. We decided to take a break from work and she told me her story and I told her mine. Before going back to work, she told me that she admired me.

– I admire YOU – I said.

– Me? But I don’t work seated.

– Many people I know who work seated will never command from me the respect I feel right now.

We never know where we’ll find the best lessons of life. The person I said goodbye to was not the same person I had met moments earlier. I thought of a phrase I had read a few months earlier in an article by Paco Moreno for Forbes:

“Diversity is a fact; inclusion is an option”.

Let’s make it an option for businesses, for administrations, for society. Let’s make it an option for ALL.