Statement of Intention

The goal of this blog is to challenge myself and others to question our default starting point on the difficult problems that face us, in particular in the world of politics and international relations. The vast majority of us, including myself, are constantly perpetuating and escalating any number of conflicts in involuntary and unconscious ways. Whether in our homes, at our work, or in the world at large, we default to blindly believing our version of an issue/conflict and discrediting any opposing views. Even when we know this happens, and work hard — really hard — to do otherwise, well, we do it anyway.

How many times have I, in the past 12 months, looked at the other side of the Red-Blue divide and cried in exasperation, “Who are those stupid people?” all the while thinking that if they just listened to me, the world would become a utopia. What? You’re not guilty of the same? I wish I could believe you.

I launched this blog because I have grown tired of reading the news and churning inside, seeing most people talk past each other and the salient points in an issue. A mentor of mine (who’s words inspired the domain name) taught me a lot about learning to question my certainties, my anger towards those who don’t get it, and to search to forge a relational context in which we don’t need to resolve issues through a power struggle (where even when we win, we lose).

I’d like to contribute to a dialogue that could help us step out of the pervasive “Us vs. Them’s” in our society and world: Red vs. Blue, Fundamentalist Christian vs. Liberal, US vs. Muslim/Arab, pro-life vs. pro-choice, …

Even though I like to think I have lots of answers, I realize that in fact I don’t; I just have lots of opinions. Let’s talk them through and see if together, we can’t offer something both hopeful and practical to the world.