Welcoming Change

Nightmare Portends the Future? Two days after Election Day I awoke from a terrible nightmare.  A torturer had just cut off my legs and was forcing me to walk on the stubs of my legs. I woke up screaming.  Who was my torturer? Why this dream? Why now? In August 2001 I experienced repeated waves of doom that something dreadful was coming.

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 A World in a Dramatic State of Change                                                                                                          The winds of change are whirling ever faster on our shrinking planet. If we could grasp why so many people around the world are caught up in deadly conflicts with each other, ones which cost so much suffering to so many, would we want to know that? I spent a week in intensive study in Boulder, Colorado recently, sponsored by Spiral Dynamics Integral with the primary exponent of the Spiral Dynamics theory, Don Beck. The Missing Piece for Peacemakers? On of the main challenges for peacemakers is that we tend to apply one size fits all solutions. If you bad people (terrorists or bad governments, take your pick) would just stop your violent ways, the rest of us could live in peace.

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 The Future Starts Now: We Must Create It Together                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jubilation, Tears and Thanksgiving Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential race on Tuesday night was a time of jubilation, tears and thanksgiving that I will never forget. One of my most indelible teenage memories is of watching civil rights demonstrators being sprayed by fire hoses while my father screamed, “Get those niggers!”  To see this man elected President was the fulfillment of a dream for me and for so many others.                            Tsunami of New Energy Released The eruption of dancing, and joy on the faces of people all over this country and around the world was utterly remarkable. People saw a possible new future for themselves, for their children and future generations.  A wave of energy was released, which some have compared to a tsunami.  It is absolutely vital that this energy is not allowed to dissipate.                                                                                                                Problems too Complex to Leave All Up to Government The problems we face now are far too large and too complex. We cannot leave handling all these problems -from the financial crisis, education, health care, energy, transportation,- to the federal and state governments.  If we leave these policy decisions to Congress the lobbyists will descend on Washington once more and the money machine will start all over again. Then all hope for change will go out the window.

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An Acrimonious Bitter Election Divides the Nation The nastiness of the current political campaign is the worst in living memory. It has felt to me, at moments, that the nation is coming unglued . I have been disturbed at the rage and hatred expressed by people on all sides of this election. My concern is not with who wins, because whoever wins, we will cope with it. My concern is rather that we will not deal with the fear and the rage that is underlying this animosity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Polarizing Cultural Changes Swept Through U.S.

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The Confusion of Peace and Defeat in the American Psyche  The question is why was the American psyche so readily open to make the connection between the words “peace” and “defeat,” and why have we not been able to overcome it since then? Grandstanding on the Election Trail For the last thirty years our presidential candidates have loathed identifying themselves as peace makers in their campaigns for fear of being perceived weak and too soft.  They employ a multitude of strategies to discuss our foreign policy challenges but they never discuss peace negotiations as possible options with our adversaries.  They encourage other nations towards peace and push a few more towards negotiations, but they hold the line when it comes to our own nation making peace with those we are in conflict with.  Candidates Insist We Are Tough, Not Weak The candidates go to great lengths to express their toughness as leaders and “commanders in chief;” any language of conciliation is deemed too soft and weak. It can spell disaster in the opinion polls.  They are hemmed  in from all directions and forced to remind us over and over again that they are not afraid to use our military might;  they will use the big stick because we are tough and no one should mess with us; it smacks with teen age harangues on the playgrounds. Bullying is Acceptable in Foreign Affairs Such diatribes underscore our fundamental confusion with our image as a peace making nation.  We have become accustomed to the idea that bullying is an acceptable behavior for our foreign policy affairs.  Not only have we come to accept that our presidents carry a big stick on the world stage, but that it is perfectly normal to use it whenever and however they see fit … as long as our lifestyle and consumer slumber is not disturbed.                                                                                                                   Peace Challenges Our Simplistic Ideas About the World As a people, we have unknowingly and in a deep way come to accept that peace is not only weak but it is also messy and it challenges the simplistic answers we have come to view the world with.  As individuals this notion may not be true for most of us, but as a collective we have slipped into a dangerous trance.  Our presidents become peace makers on the world stage after they are out of office; only then do we grant them permission to discuss peace making with our adversaries without negative repercussions; we heartily applaud them if they choose to assume such a role. Individualism Gone Awry Negates Community So what is it that keeps us invested in this position as a nation?  Do we blame Mr. Nixon, our politicians, our appetite for consumerism?  I believe the issue is rooted in the founding history of the American culture; it is individualism gone awry.  America was built by the best and highest values of individualism, but individualism in its extreme negates community; it is selfish and self centered and sees little value in a cooperative, unitive view of the world.  Adolescent Nation Needs to Grow Up Peace requires all the above and more; it requires humility and a sense of equality with our neighbors.  It requires a national stance that says we are part of the world and the tribe of humanity rather than separate and different from it.  It requires grace and maturity instead of an adolescent need to be separate in order to be special.  Individualism gone awry is an adolescent developmental stage that America has struggled to give up since WWII.  We won that war and with it gained maturity as a nation, but somehow we keep reverting to our adolescence.  Perhaps it is time we grow up and embody the maturity we so dearly paid for.

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Peace as an Election Ploy                                                                                                     In his 1968 run for the White House Richard Nixon declared himself as “the peace candidate” and the American people, disgusted and confused by the Vietnam War, ascended him to the Presidency primarily on that promise. History proved however that his declarations as being “the peace candidate” during that election were a cynical ploy to win; he actually had intended to “bomb the hell out of them” and force the North Vietnamese into surrender. “Peace with Honor” Five years later in 1973, and after a brutal bombardment campaign failed to break the will of the Vietcong, Mr. Nixon began to talk about “Peace with honor.” Saigon was about to fall and the president was looking for ways to acknowledge the failure of American interventionism in South East Asia. Nixon however, could not bring himself to use words such as failure, defeat, settlement or anything else that acknowledged the reality of the situation. Had his approval rating been higher or had he been a more self assured five star general and war hero like his previous boss, Dwight Eisenhower, he may have been confident enough to admit the realities to the American people.

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Today I’m pleased to introduce you to my mentor, teacher, and friend, Leah Green, founder and Executive Director of The Compassionate Listening Project.  For a complete history of the Project and its extensive activities please visit the website: http://www.compassionatelistening.org Deep Listening Begins in the Fire of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict                                                                                                                Q: Leah, please give us an idea of how The Compassionate Listening Project got started. L: I started leading citizen delegations to Israel and Palestine in 1990.   I had been looking for a way to bring something positive to this conflict when I found the writings of Gene Knudsen Hoffman, whose teacher was Thich Nhat Hahn.  He challenged peacemakers to stay connected to people on all sides of a conflict. Our new approach was so successful that Israelis and Palestinians asked us to teach them what we were doing. We crafted a curriculum for Compassionate Listening and then people here asked us to show them what we were doing in the Middle East. So the work in the Middle East has always been like a learning laboratory for us.

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Political Divisiveness in a Time of Financial Crisis I woke from a dream this morning that John McCain and Barack Obama had met and declared a moratorium on attacks on each other and had made a commitment to bring the American people together in this time of crisis.                                                                                                                There is something deeply disturbing about the divisiveness and rancor that is going on politically. When our financial system is in a state of total breakdown this is not helpful.  Continued verbal attacks are dangerous, might lead to physical violence,  and certainly will drive Americans  further apart.  A mark of true leadership would be to start working now to bring us together. Powerlessness Underneath Sarah Palin’s Attacks For the past two weeks I have been very disturbed by the conduct and words of Sarah Palin.  I was obsessed with her and was not at peace.  I had to inquire into this or I could not live with myself.  After much soul searching here’s what I found:  behind her folksy demeanor, Ms. Palin is a very angry woman. Life has taught me that underneath anger there is always an emotion that human beings are desperate not to feel-powerlessness.   Suddenly I saw why she had become a politician; it was the only way she could be powerful in a fast changing world that was leaving her small town, evangelical Christian world behind.  Feeling victimized and powerless is a human experience I know well.

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The Burmese Harp. Directed by Kon Ichikawa. Starring Rentaro Mikuni and Shoji Yasui. Based on a novel by Michio Takeyama. (1956)                                                                                                                                                                               Little Known AntiWar Film is a Classic This 1956 Japanese film is a profoundly moving meditation on the price of war and may well rank in the top pantheon of anti-war films.  It is in black and white and this sharp chiaroscuro increases its impact and quiet power.  It takes place in Burma as World War II  is ending in July  1945.  The first words on the screen are: “The soil of Burma is red and so are its rocks,” thus introducing a metaphor for what is to follow. Using Music and Song to Touch the Heart The camera focuses on a unit of Japanese soldiers, whose captain graduated from music school and has taught them the basics of choral singing.  One of them, Corporal Mizushima, has learned to play the Burmese harp and accompanies his comrades as they sing.  They long to escape to Thailand but it is too late.

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Political Campaign Miasma One month left to go in the American Presidential race and I wish it were over. I am not a happy camper.  I inquired into my unhappiness and this is what I saw: I had decided that something is wrong with the candidates, wrong with the way we do politics, and hell, something is wrong with us in the U.S. period. I saw that I was frightened, anxious and miserable.   I am worried that McCain and Palin will be elected and that together they will replay the Bush years –or worse. I fear Sarah Palin is unprepared for the job of Vice-President.

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