SLO LIFE Feb/Mar 2018

| MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR
WE NEED
NOT WAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY VANESSA PLAKIAS
There is a quote widely attributed to Mahatma Ghandi, which reads, “Be the change you
wish to see in the world.” According to historians—while those words fit neatly onto a
bumper sticker—that is not what he actually said. Ghandi’s declaration is more nuanced,
and also more urgent: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would
also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change
towards him. We need not wait to see what others do.” It would be difficult to find
someone who has attempted to embody these words with as much energy and dedication
as RUSHDI CADER of San Luis Obispo, who, in a wide ranging conversation, describes
his passion, his life’s work, and his fulfillment as “advocating for vulnerable people,”
which he does locally as an emergency room physician, a reserve police officer, a devout
Muslim, a SWAT team medic, a volunteer, and as the creator of a program designed to
end radicalized Islam. Here is his story…
34 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | FEB/MAR 2018