Choosing Power Over Pity
By: Erin Butts
Jas Boothe talks to Chaffey College students on Zoom about what it means to choose power over pity. This event was hosted by the Veterans Resource Center and co-hosted by the Center for Culture and Social Justice on Jan 25, 2021 at noon.
Jas Boothe had plenty of reasons to pity herself. She lost all of her possessions due to Hurricane Katrina. Boothe served in the Army Reserves and was preparing to deploy to Iraq when she was told that she had an aggressive form of cancer that only responds to treatment 50% of the time.
After leaving the army to undergo treatment Boothe was told by the Department of Veterans Affairs that there were no programs to help female veterans with children. As a result, Boothe and her son lived with her aunt in Missouri and she slept on the couch. During this time she struggled with choosing pity over power, but ultimately it was her son's encouragement that helped her choose power.
Everyday her son would say, "Mom! Today is gonna be a better day. Now gimme a smile!"
In 2010, after hearing a story about a homeless woman veteran on an Oprah Winfrey show, Boothe founded Final Salute Inc., an organization that provides housing for women veterans.
Today, in addition to her work on Final Salute Inc., Boothe travels the world and speaks on a multitude of topics such as leadership, diversity, entrepreneurship, intersectionality and inclusion. Through her experience with cancer and homelessness, she has learned to choose pity over power.
In Boothe's speaking event at Chaffey College she gives students numerous tips on how to shift your mindset and choose power over pity. Here are three pieces of advice she offers:
1. You Have Options
Throughout Boothe’s speech the fact that we have options in every situation is a repeating theme. In the midst of cancer treatment Boothe realized that she could choose to be grateful or that she could choose pity. When she experienced homelessness she had the choice to see all of her options or to give in to pity. In the beginning of her speech Boothe recalled a time when she needed prescription glasses. She was not happy about this, but she also realized that there were so many options to choose from.
Boothe explained, “In every situation we have an infinite number of choices.”
One form of pity is only seeing one option - the one presented to you. One form of power though, is seeing that you have multiple options and you get to choose.
2. You Can Say No
One of the options that you have is the ability to say no. There is power in your “no” because you are able to make the choice for yourself of what you will or will not do.
To those who feel that they have a lot on their plate Boothe asks, “Who made your plate?”
She continues with this piece of advice, “Only accept what you can handle...Whatever you’re doing in life there’s going to be an infinite amount of advice people are going to give you and you can infinitely say no to all of it.”
Sometimes saying no and not adding to your plate is a sign of power, not weakness.
3. You Have The Ability To Shape Your Reality
You get to choose your mindset and your actions in any given situation. One way that Boothe shapes her reality is through meditation and affirmations.
She says, “I meditate everyday to get myself ready to face the day. I say affirmations. I list out intentions. I believe in manifestations. You don’t have to believe in those sorts of things but I do and it helps me to get through my day..”
What we choose to focus on and what we choose to do will shape our reality.
Final Salute Inc. has supported over 7,000 women and children in over thirty states and territories. She says that choosing power is the reason she is the woman she is today.