The Best Of Humanity

There is no doubt that we are living in extraordinary times with this “once-in-a-hundred-years” global pandemic. In many countries, it has become a full-blown crisis with massive unemployment, closed borders, taxed healthcare systems, and full lockdowns. The silver lining is that the truth always shines in a crisis. COVID-19 has brought out the best and worst of humanity. On the negative side, we see selfish hoarding, immoral profiteering, xenophobia, and even racist physical attacks against innocent people. At the same time, we also see beautiful altruism by frontline healthcare workers, national solidarity during lockdowns, charity drives around the world, random acts of kindness to strangers, compassion to the elderly, and much more. If you ask me, the positivity far outweighs the negativity. If anything, my faith in humanity has been reinforced in this crisis.

More than ever, we all have a choice in this crisis. Do we listen to our fears, doubts, and insecurities? Or do we still embrace our truths, passions, and dreams? Do we succumb to anger, greed, sloth, jealousy, hatred, revenge, arrogance, and entitlement? Or do we yield to love, gratitude, humility, patience, courage, happiness, hard work, and kindness?

Life is a fight between good and evil within ourselves and around the world. Be careful what you embrace because what you embrace is who you become. Embrace the light. Be the light. Let us unite over what makes us good, what makes us noble, what makes us extraordinary. Let us stand as ONE. #WeAreONE

Chatri Sityodtong is a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand. His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC News, CNN, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, and other major media. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia’s largest global sports media property in history with a global broadcast to over 2.7 billion potential viewers across 150+ countries around the world. He is also the star of the Asian edition of The Apprentice, the award-winning, global reality TV series. Forbes most recently selected Sityodtong as one of Asia’s next generation tycoons. Sityodtong was also named “Asia’s King of Martial Arts” by the Financial Times and the “2nd Most Powerful Person in Sports in Asia” by FOX Sports. He is also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD, Europe’s top business school. Inducted recently into the Black Belt Hall of Fame, Sityodtong is a Kru in Muay Thai and a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.