"Our global challenge is how to generate and sustain genuine engagement that encourages people from within their traditions to seek that which assures the preciousness and respect for life that every religion sees as an inherent right and gift from the Divine, and how to build organized political and social life that is responsive to fundamental human needs."
So here I am, a week late arriving home, stuck between Colombia, Guatemala, and Harrisonburg when our world changed. The images flash even in my sleep. The heart of America ripped. Though natural, the cry for revenge and the call for the unleashing of the first war of this century, prolonged or not, seems more connected to social and psychological processes of finding a way to release deep emotional anguish, a sense of powerlessness, and our collective loss than it does as a plan of action seeking to redress the injustice, promote change, and prevent it from ever happening again.
I am stuck from airport to airport as I write this, the reality of a global system that has suspended even the most basic trust. My Duracell batteries and finger nail clippers were taken from me today and it gave me pause for thought. I had a lot of pauses in the last few days. Life has not been the same…
Lederach, John Paul. “The Challenge of Terror: A Traveling Essay.” Mediate.com (blog), September 14, 2001.
Originally published by and shared with permission of Mediate.com.
An article imagining a courageous alternative to the then pending U.S. war with Iraq.
Thoughts about the challenge of to all of us as leaders when we live in settings of social fragmentation and at the same time are committed to pursue justice and healing in our relationships.
A message co-written with Melanie Greenberg in the lead up to the November 2020 elections in the United States offering ways to deescalate and counteract mounting polarization in the country.