A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict
Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 9:00
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Without question, 2011 has been a humbling and profound year for us. Humbling, as we relay the accounts of citizens in Syria, Bahrain, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and countless other countries across the globe. Profound, as in following these stories of struggle --- and often devastation and destruction --- we have witnessed a passion and resilience almost unimaginable to us, especially for those of us sheltered in Western abodes. We have seen a human spirit that burns bright with hope and possibility for our shared future on this planet. What is more, we have repeatedly heard the roar of that spirit in its refusal to be silenced.
This is not to be naive in the face of brutality, oppression and exploitation. Rather, it is to take sustenance and nourishment from the interconnections of ideals that form the core of our individual, local, national, and global struggles.
This underpins our optimism: it is communication that is building community. The recourse of tyrants is to violence because they refuse to hear the voice of critique or to grant an individual the time of day to express his or her wishes. Dialogue demolishes barriers, especially when it takes places amongst equals. Indeed, it creates equals by fostering understanding, empathy, shared experience, and solidarity.