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Gaza: Just Such A Time As This
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



Today I am in sorrow over what is happening in the region of Gaza. Is there anything I can do? Am I limited to government statements, last minute diplomacy, or immobilizing personal outrage? How do I respond from this place of despair? What do I tell the children? Is this the time when the posture of prayer may provide the spirit of openness for a solution waiting to be recognized from the treasures of mystery?

What is at issue in this crisis? Israel is outraged due to persistent rocket attacks from Gaza. Hamas is outraged by the Israeli authorities’ ongoing harassment at border checkpoints where supplies and people must travel from Gaza’s confined space to the rest of the world.

There is also an elephant in the room that most governments across the world are ignoring; the attack and destabilisation of a duly elected government. In the most recent elections in the Palestinian territories including Gaza, Hamas won with wide popular support. There were good reasons for this, relating to governance by the Palestinian Authority over the past decade. But when democracy is promoted across the world and the people elect a government that other nations do not like, by what guide of democracy can the outside world unilaterally decide that this is not acceptable and deliberately undermine that election? Grumbling about an elected government is part of democracy everywhere, but destabilizing an elected government is not a part of the democratic way of life.

There is also a stark military economic inequality between the two sides in this violent conflict. Isn’t it suicidal for Gaza residents through their defence institutions, to attack Israel? Why would anyone make a fight that will surely bring harm to one’s family and neighbors? One answer may be that when people are pressed to the limit of their flesh, they find a way to struggle. The people of Gaza are not the first peoples to do so. Suicidal mission is inherent in any war. Soldiers in service of a cause - freedom, empire, democracy or religion - know that they may die for that cause . They believe, sometimes with positive outcomes, that their sacrifice might reach beyond the limits of today’s reason into tomorrow’s solutions. In this case self sacrifice in their mind is honourable

Where do we turn for a resolution? Thousands of board rooms, staff meetings, and grand peace councils set up to deal with crises like this have not produced solutions. When diplomats desperately grope for chimerical cease fires, the time is ripe to feel and acknowledge despair and guilt over lost opportunities. Will solutions ever come from diplomacy or councils of peacemaking? Will the 60 year stalemate continue for another 40 years, a full century to explain to the children of Christians, Jews and Muslims?

Alternatively, can the fruits of our imaginations be ignited through the Gaza crisis of 2008? Can we believe that our collective imaginations of this day might help? Have we been given one more opportunity to sharpen our seeing and listening for what wants to be revealed from divine mystery?

People who are deeply committed to social justice and peacemaking, religious and secular, are suspicious that meditation belongs only to the pious and spiritual ones who hide behind their exercises to avoid engagement. The split between people of action and people of prayer is a false dichotomy that appears in every tradition. If political analysis, dissecting the holy, the manipulation of shame and guilt, or raw activism could have provided the basis for peace in this region of God’s earth, it would have happened long ago. What has been lacking is the acknowledgement of the mystery of unknown forces at work among and through patterns of violent conflict so heavily focussed on Israel and Palestine.

The war in Gaza today invites me to prayer. I don’t promise that prayer will enlighten my imagination in a fresh way. I will try because I know that liberation from false myths of security is born in moments of irrational violence. I share our common desperation for a break through. When a sign or nudge to action comes I hope I have the courage to acknowledge it. And if it comes to me or you, we can share it with the people on the peace councils, in diplomatic corps, or organizations, share it with all the people on this journey with us. We may be here for just such a time as this.






December 31, 2008 | 5:04 PM Comments  0 comments
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The MQ-1 Predator
Related to country: Pakistan
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


The MQ-1 Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aircraft system The MQ-1's primary mission is interdiction and conducting armed reconnaissance against critical, perishable targets. When the MQ-1 is not actively pursuing its primary mission, it acts as the Joint Forces Air Co mponent Commander-owned theater asset for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in support of the Joint Forces commander.
- Official Web Site of the United State Air Force

Here in Ontario we are in the deer hunting season. Last week I stopped at a site where hunters bring the deer they have shot to be dressed. In one cooling room I saw dozens of skinned and cleaned deer silently hanging and awaiting final processing. On the outside of the butcher shop I saw an old pick up truck, its back tires sagging from an overload of deer skins, bones, heads and whatever was left waiting to be hauled off to a dump site.

Today the primary predator for deer is the human species. We humans have replaced the wolf. When we got rid of the wolf who is now quietly making a come back with a little help from public policy, we didn’t anticipate the disturbed predator prey balance would reverberate throughout the whole ecological system. Everywhere I go I hear that there are too many deer. When they visit our bird feeder in our backyard, eat the bird seed without asking and eventually knock over the feeder I am tempted to join the deer hunters even though I have never shot a gun.

If a person or animal threatens me I can feel the energy of fight flight genes light up my veins. Life on this earth is built on predator behaviour but it can continue only if there is balance. In fact we depend upon it to get our food, both vegetables and animals. Occasionally someone comes along with a suggestion about breaking the destructive and out of balance part of the cycle like the notion of the “lion and the lamb lying down together” so familiar from the Bible.

The thought that the two species, one of whom normally feasts on the other, lying down together is about as crazy as hunters getting rid of their guns and making annual treks into the woods to pet deer. The suggestion would make the many hunters upset to say nothing of the evolution of defence mechanisms inside the deer. In the Bible the lamb ends up being the model for a new way of life and is understood as being one of the better metaphors for describing how divine love shows itself. The lamb is usually found along the side of some kind of predator. The last book of the Bible, Revelations turns lamb work into the purpose of all of history. No wonder people who don’t buy into lamb inspired living spend so much time reworking Revelations to become a frightening roadmap for end times.

Our predator ways are deeply rooted. Lions will not change their ways in a single generation. The prophetic writers of the Hebrew Bible used the metaphor of lions and lambs living or sleeping in close proximity, knowing that this could only happen if there was an infusion of divine wisdom present. Deer, lambs, or human beings - the point is that God likeness changes the relationship between the predator and the hunted.

A predator usually devours its prey. So I was surprised some years ago when I discovered that the US Department of Defence named a new aircraft, the MQ-1 Predator. The MQ-1Predator is one of several emerging aircraft that are part of a new species of airplanes called drones, meaning they fly without pilots, navigators or other trained staff aboard the aircraft. They are electronically and digitally controlled by pilot technicians on the ground. I can understand why there is an interest in developing such a machine. It allows the mission to be carried out without endangering the people who operate the craft. I assume that the goal in this case is destruction and killing without eating the hunted. The MQ- 1 definitely has a devouring effect on human communities and the environment.

The MQ-1 Predator and its cousin the MQ-9 Reaper, a larger craft with a much longer and higher flight potential is headquartered at Creech Air Force Base. The base is 45 miles from Las Vegas NV, adjacent to the Nevada Test Site where nuclear weapons are tested, and near the town of Indian Springs where native people once found their water in the midst of the desert.

In the present wars we usually hear about MQ-1 Predator aircraft attacking suspected Al Queda safe havens in the Northwest border area of Pakistan. The MQ-1 were pressed into more active service due to 9/11 and the destruction of the twin towers. In the world that we have constructed no country would allow itself to be preyed upon like that without answering. When 9/11 occurred there was in fact some cheering in the Middle East not only from radicals or predator organizers of the raid but by what today we would call Main Street people who had been fed up for years with what they felt was unbalanced treatment across the region by the US.

Our earth and all of us have survived because of the principle of balance and relatedness. Native hunters leave tobacco or another sacred offering of thanks when a deer gives its life so their family can be fed. The native hunter would never consider extinguishing a whole species. There is a balance or mutuality where each works out their place. In such a world a deer will still give its life to help sustain the whole.

The Bible stretches us to a similar notion when it speaks of lions and lambs living together. We live in a global garden where there is a productive relationship between all of us. With the help of science we try to gain an edge for our side with instruments like the MQ-1 Predator. The brief tactical advantage is rarely permanent. Killing, eating or eliminating all the prey doesn’t work. At best it buys more time to put the system even further out of balance. Something bigger will have to be fixed down the line. Our ancient sages and prophets knew this.

The MQ-1 Predator signals us that we are in an era when the execution of predatory activity will become more and more controlled by digital wonders and by a few people who know which buttons to press as long as they can get away with it before the rest of us learn the dangers and respond with organized prophetic activity. The digital wonders may prove faulty and the people at the buttons can make mistakes because of incomplete programming, human error or human performance that lacks honourable intent. Predators and the children of predators can not win the peace without the cooperation of the prey. That will not happen until the predators acknowledge their own vulnerability. They too can be prey. Only a return to balance and relationship will win the peace. There is a lot of transformation to do within me and inside all the systems political, economic and social . I will be working on both of them.


Note: For anyone travelling to the Las Vegas and wishing to visit Creech AFB where the brains for the MQ-1 Predator are located I would be glad to try to put you in touch with a local person who can help facilitate your inquiries with the commanders, or fasting in sack cloth and ashes at the gates to the base.


November 30, 2008 | 11:54 AM Comments  0 comments
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Middle East: Will Change Come?
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


When President elect Obama takes office in January the clamour of voices in the Middle East and here for more peaceful relationships based less on threats, harsh pronouncements, and more on persistent talking may have a chance. That chance is elevated significantly if people like you and I bring our concerns to the table persistently and persuasively. Obama knows how to listen; it’s important that we speak. This is not the time to withdraw into our cocoons to practice impatient or irritated advocacy.

At least two themes that have been present in the campaign virtually from the beginning can help sustain our energy. Talking to adversaries was particularly emphasized early on although it was less prominent as the campaign gathered momentum. Sometimes this is referred to as soft diplomacy, a term that power brokers are reluctant to use because it can imply weakness. People in power dare never look weak in a democracy like the United States, a super power and financially strapped empire.

The other theme that characterized the campaign from its earliest stage was change. The language of change has been included in every campaign, cause or movement that I have been part of. In the world where I have worked it is almost a rule that change comes from the bottom. You think you are part of something real when the word “change” is thrown around. Change is part of the adrenaline. But using the term without a thoughtful strategy is like trying to drive a two-wheel drive vehicle through a bank of snow. You get stuck.

I believe that in the Obama campaign the heavy reliance on the change theme arises directly from community organizing experience and the Black church which he embraced until his harsh critics wedged him away from his pastor of so many years. You can see his willingness to distance himself from his church as a lapse in judgement or you can see it as a generic characteristic of a good organizer whose allies and enemies are always ready to use, misuse or exploit the emerging moments when success (in this case getting elected President) appears plausible.

Change is one of those words that can be used to cover and uncover good and bad. For community organizers the process of change means identifying the issue after lots of direct conversation with people. The next step is crucial, figuring out the avenues for grass roots people to be involved in the process. Without this step there is no change because economics, media, political and sometimes ecclesiastical policy is stuck in the way things have always been. This is when change gets messy and tempers flare. Change oriented people including pastors and community organizers are called bad names. Long held images of class, race and religion are invoked to keep things as they always have been. In the process of change friends and enemies are disturbed because both rely upon the status quo for continuity and safety. I believe honest talk and confidence that real change can happen, are deeply rooted in Obama because he has seen it work.

I don’t believe that just talk alone assures success for repair of the tangled conditions in the Middle East but I do believe that Obama, the community organizer, now on a world stage may have integrated some lessons from the grass roots that can help. Most of us will be frustrated and impatient as we see the same old names marching to cabinet and staff appointments. We are assured that they know how to get things done in Washington. We’ll see.

The habit of the new President of seeking advice from various voices, also a characteristic of a good organizer, will help. It is within our power to consistently remind this new administration of the core values from which it sprang and remember that change comes usually uncredited from the grass roots. In other words let’s gear up for the long march, a march that starts from the bottom.

Obama has already courted the Israeli lobby and has made several unequivocal pronouncements of support for Israel. His appointment of a chief of staff with long family roots in militant Zionism may disappoint us but need not. These are not the only people Obama has talked to over the last 25 years about Palestinian and Israeli blood and US complicity. He knows as much as any of these insiders that the passing of years makes a real solution even more difficult and that the fair exercise of US words and power can move things along.

He knows that a father of anti communism, Richard Nixon, was the one who led the breakthrough with China. He knows that the core belief in fairness must be lived out and that the process requires unexpected partners who can be cultivated over time. A new conservative government in Israel may empower the neo conservative voices in North America, but their influence is on the wane at least for now. Peace from the Mediterranean to Pakistan, sometimes incorrectly lumped together and called the Middle East, will be heavily influenced by what occurs in Jerusalem.

Obama knows that his promise to bring home the combat troops from Iraq in 16 months - from population centers by mid 2009 and completely by 2011 - must be honored or he will pay dearly. As the Iraqi government becomes more authoritarian either with civilian or military leaders or both, the grand Baghdad experiment will be increasingly criticized from all sides not the least from those neo colonial voices urging the US to stay and “finish” the job.

This is why the strategy of talking with adversaries, so emblazoned on the early rhetoric of the Obama campaign, must be initiated from day one. Talking does not mean that those of us who want to support Obama will always learn about the conversations. I really don’t care if the conversations are confidential, in fact I assume they will be. I just want them to happen after a full review of what can be done to loosen up the stalemate. This is where the discussions about nuclear bombs, deterrents and delivery systems needs new thinking - from the context of the entire region, Israel, Pakistan and Iran. Has anyone noticed that Iran may have legitimate fears?

Most of us have forgotten or perhaps never knew that Iranians cheered the exit of Saddam as well as the end of Taliban rule (at least for a time) in Afghanistan, though the subdued nature of their cheering and reasons for cheers were not like we may have witnessed in the US. I suspect that the 70% of the Iranian population less than 30 years of age will be curious about this new American president and how he will relate to their own aging religious leadership and themselves. Breaking through the language of enemy and evil will require fresh initiatives from the new President early in the life of the new administration. Our voices, occasional delegations to Iran and other grass roots efforts will help make that new thinking crisp for what could be a new era.

This brings us to the third pillar of conflict of the region, Afghanistan. I really don’t know if Obama believes he will be able to chase down Bin Laden in Pakistan or if he did, anything would change. Things get said in campaigns that don’t last beyond campaigns and I hope that this is one of them. One President had to eat words like that. I hope Obama knows better. The Russians once were convinced that more troops would bring victory in Afghanistan. They lost their empire along the way and left behind a government that crumbled into corruption in the face of war lords and then the Taliban. The players from that era are still around and corruption in the modern Afghan state is mounting again. A community organizer knows that those are the people who will have to be talked to and the solution may not look pretty. This will mean a major redrawing of the lines and strategies regarding world wide terrorism, a movement that is now older, a little tired and much better understood than ten years ago.

People like me are sometimes chastised for failing to “stand up” against violent terrorists. In real politics I know that states must protect their populations from terror; not doing so is a violation of the myth of national existence. I have seen first hand how the experience of terror across the Middle East has touched so many. Terrorism comes from people who think they can make things better through violence and somewhere along the way their struggle becomes a holy and righteous war, a freedom struggle, something worth dying for.

Let us be honest, people at the bottom have experienced terrorism by every army, armed group above ground and underground in the region. One nation’s defence of a way of life is another nation’s experience of terror. The use of house raids, smart bombs, predator (drone) aircraft armed with Hellfire missiles, and any weapons of mass destruction threatens all of us. Empires and great powers rarely change their ways without significant pressure. Our work may begin with just a few words. We can change one piece of the complicated equation in the Middle East, the part that the US directs. Words are completed with action. One action that we may need to prepare ourselves for is the development of pastoral teams to visit the victims of terror be they in Gaza, Fallujah, Mossul (ancient Nineveh), or the mountains of the Frontier Territories of Pakistan.





November 22, 2008 | 11:09 AM Comments  0 comments
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Open Letter to the President of Iran
Related to country: Iran
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Dear President Mahmoud Ahmadiniejad


Your encouraging congratulatory letter to the new American President included wise words, “.. the chances that God gives to his subjects pass swiftly. They can be used for the perfection of humanity and to the benefit of nations...” I write to you today as an American citizen who has worked for a world of peace with justice for 40 years. I know that millions of Americans will watch for words and actions that can lead to a restoration of wholeness and boundless respect that the peoples of our two nations deserve.

As a child of a Christian home my weekly Bible study included the story of great Persian leader, Cyrus the Great, whose generous treatment of oppressed peoples in the empire assembled under his guidance was a matter of great interest and curiosity to me. His empire (583 BC and following) signalled real change. It was among the first in history where enslaved peoples were restored to honour and fairness. He instituted kindness as a replacement for cruelty in the new political order. The change he initiated was a change that peoples all over the modern world can still believe in. Your predecessor’s empire reached from the lands near the Mediterranean where Greek influence was strong through Babylonia of modern day Iraq and far to the east into Central Asia and the Indus Valley where Pakistan is found on the modern map.

Mr. President I know that the blood of Cyrus the Great continues to flow in the family lines of the people of Persia. I know that his story provides inspiration to the great Persian people of modern day Iran where new efforts have been under way for the last 60 years to perfect a vision that restores honour and fairness to the lands of contemporary Persia.

Mr. President I also know that the state craft of Cyrus the Great that introduced compassion and fairness to the affairs of the political order has spread beyond the borders of Persia into the farmlands and industrial centers of my own nation. Much remains to be perfected. Our new President has been formed by the threads of this legacy. I believe openings for authentic reconciliation and the just treatment of oppressed people and prisoners are within grasp. We can now reach beyond the limitations we have placed upon ourselves arising from the myths of our own political culture.

For those of us who care deeply about peace among the peoples of the world, your letter to President Bush May 8, 2006 provides a thoughtful outline that can inspire and encourage. You wrote,

“The people will scrutinize our presidencies.

“Did we manage to bring peace, security and prosperity for the people or insecurity and
unemployment?

“Did we intend to establish justice, or just support especial interest groups, and by forcing many people to live in poverty and hardship, make a few people rich and powerful – thus trading the approval of the people and the Almighty with theirs’?

“Did we defend the rights of the underprivileged or ignore them?

“Did we defend the rights of all people around the world or impose wars on them, interfered illegally in their affairs, established hellish prisons and incarcerated some of them?

“Did we bring the world peace and security or raise the spectre of intimidation and threats?

“Did we tell the truth to our nation and others around the world or present an inverted
version of it?

“Were we on the side of people or the occupiers and oppressors?

“Did our administrations set out to promote rational behaviour, logic, ethics, peace, fulfilling obligations, justice, service to the people, prosperity, progress and respect for human dignity or the force of guns, intimidation, insecurity, disregard for the people, delaying the progress and excellence of other nations, and trample on people’s rights?

“And finally, they will judge us on whether we remained true to our oath of office – to serve the people, which is our main task, and the traditions of the prophets – or not?”

Mr President Ahmadiniejad, the memories and latent goodness of both nations remained stalled in a long remembered 1950s era overthrow of the Iranian government by a hyperactive US CIA and the 1979 hostage taking at the US embassy in Tehran. This has led to decades long policy of sanctions directed at Iran and more recently concerns over the use of nuclear technology. We all must do better. Cyrus the Great calls out to us from the choir of history to rise from the dungeons of blame and the politics of shame to a new era of honesty and respect.

The time has arrived for my nation to reach deep into its better character where the strands of dignified relationships between nations have long been lodged to bring a new day. I believe there is no better time than now for my nation to signal Iran and the entire world that fresh more comprehensive nuclear controls and nuclear disarmament be developed for the entire world. For this to happen President elect Obama will need to take unprecedented actions to demonstrate to you and me that the voice and character of peace long latent in our people will blossom into effective policies that forever takes nuclear arms out of the affairs of the nations of the earth. It is our work, the people of peace to insist that this happens. We will do that. Your words encourage us to do so.

Mr. President we need not be held hostage to policies of sanctions, arms, and smarter weapons. We are inspired by Cyrus the Great and insist that there is a better course for our peoples. I believe that generosity, justice and authentic reconciliation can transform our lives and our cultures of conflict. We thank you for reminding us of so many of our core convictions as we seek to emulate the call of the prophets.

Respectfully yours,
Gene Stoltzfus

November 17, 2008 | 11:32 AM Comments  0 comments
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Setting the Tone: Communication in Conflict
Related to country: Iraq
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The tone we set in peacemaking is everything. Without an approach of curiosity, candour, and honesty we can be assured that progress will stop. In a peacemaking conversation there is always more to communicate than the content of the contentious issue. The tiny symbols of timing, dress, place and body language all make a difference and may open or close doors. Appropriate gift giving may be a critical part of this language in some cultures. This is true in the global tangle of conflicts but it is also true at the community and institutional levels.

Listening takes into account deeper nuanced messages that are closer to the heart. This path of interested, curious, listening comes about when we trust the preconscious and semi conscious levels of our lives. We can assume other peoples have found their own ways to be at home with those inner messages. Peacemaking, sometimes called diplomacy, is possible when there is a road. Roads are built between us by adventures of nonverbal and verbal communication over a longer period of time. Nations do this on a grand scale, the rest of us do it one on one.

During a trip to Iraq I joined a CPT team member in a visit to a family in a hard to find neighbourhood on the outskirts of Baghdad. The family had contacted our team some weeks earlier because one of their sons had disappeared early in the occupation, and they were desperate to find him. The taxi driver who took us was hesitant because he was not familiar with the community. Nevertheless, we set out on our search.

After an hour’s drive we reached the neighbourhood where we repeatedly asked for more specific directions. People were cautious. After many turns on deteriorating side roads we finally reached the street where local people pointed us to the house. The family invited us in and recalled their request for help and inquired about our work. The discussion seemed stalled for a time as tea was served. Suddenly the man of the house announced that the son had been released three weeks earlier. We were relieved but there seemed to be a continuing pall over the room as more tea arrived. Then we asked if the son was available so that he could tell us his story. They said someone would go find him. We waited.

Suddenly the former detainee burst into the room. He began shouting at us. In his shouts he appealed to a situation in Egypt where people like him are mistreated and the Americans support the government. His voice was loud and animated. We listened in confused silence. After a time we asked if he could tell us about his recent detention and what transpired. He replied with another diatribe on how awful things were, then paced back and forth in the room as his elders tried to quiet him down. A third time he lashed out at us whereupon his parents prevailed upon a relative to take him from the room. They told us that he had been inclined to these kinds of emotional responses since his release. He was not like that before, they said.

After a few more polite exchanges we left and then began the task of decoding the contrasting tones of our exchange. Had the former detainee been severely mistreated or even shamed and was his behaviour, as suggested by the parents, the result of traumatic interrogation? Or was he communicating a rising anger and bitterness of one Baghdad community in the early stages of occupation? In dozens of meetings with Middle East families I had only once encountered an outburst like this. In Middle East society this kind of behaviour is rare in early get acquainted meetings. However expressions of anger may occur later as a part of a larger process of negotiations.

On reflection later I believe that the son’s behaviour probably reflected all of the above and more. The fact that the family presented the son to us after a time of ambivalence suggests that they thought it would be safe for them if we met the son despite the unsettling nature of what was to come. The son’s message included revenge, fear, and hatred. My mistaken inclination at the time was to simply see his diatribes as the expression of anger over detainment. I was wrong. Although he may have carried conscious and subconscious pain, that pain had a real source in the unfolding events and deserved an interpretation by me that reached beyond the psychological. I failed to read the loud tones, and preferred to confine my interpretation of events to polite Middle Eastern coffee and tea hospitality. Had I listened more deeply I could have anticipated the enormous outbreak of violence and revenge in communities like his in the coming two years.

In real listening we don’t necessarily learn so much that is new. Actually we simply recognize much of what we already know. The catch is that we all have highly-developed systems of sorting, judging and eliminating information that either doesn’t fit or makes us uncomfortable. We train ourselves to do that. By listening more deeply to outbursts, to body language and the choice of words we get hints that can move peacemaking along because we know where to get started with warnings, activism and interpretation. In real listening my impatience, prejudice, and need to analyse is overcome. I let the messenger’s total communication affect me.

In my experience I know when I have listened because my energy becomes more animated with a sense of connection to the person and the larger context. Compassion and concern are awakened. I am allowed at least for a moment to hear not just words but the intent of the person and this gives me a sense of connection to the person and also to the universal. I know that the analytical have its place and will come later. In the moment of connection my whole bodies including all five senses are listening.

Over the years I have had many opportunities to introduce learning tour participants and leaders to difficult situations where justice was broken and people were angry. I joined my colleagues from the West often with our trusty notebooks where I would jot down words and names that were spoken, copiously attempting to keep a perfect record only to discover later that my notes failed miserably to capture the power of the exchange that I remembered. Only rarely did our local colleagues have notebooks but often I found their memory of the encounter more reliable. Eventually I learned that my notebook was a filter that I mistakenly hoped could catch the truth.

We live in a time when the fabric of the community of nations could be thoroughly tested. We are tempted to rush in with analyses that lead to solutions of threat and force especially when we have power. When we do that we may get lucky for a time. But our luck will inevitably run out and no amount of power or threat will force the peace.

We can set a different tone by listening deeply from the heart. The time has come to bring compassionate listening to fragile relationships from the community level to the palaces of the world.

November 7, 2008 | 2:52 PM Comments  0 comments
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