Summer of Living As One. . .and re-directing history

04 July 2018

 

"To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did." 

~ Anonymous

"God doesn't overtly act in the Book of Esther.

People do."

~ Rabbi Arik Ascherman (Purim, 2014)

"Things don't change; we do."

~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

"When the leaders get stuck and they're no longer able to effectively lead, that's when the people lead."

~ Steve Kalishman

Director, Citizen Diplomacy Initiatives

 

Today is July 4, 2018 -- Independence Day here in the United States
We insist on our citizen-freedoms of self-expression and creativity -- imagining and implementing a life, nation, and world that includes and works for everyone.
Yet some of us easily slip into our self-interests and limited clans -- forgetting others and even our high, fulfilling destiny of service "for the people."

All the people, beyond borders.
Because all is one -- one people, one Earth, one future -- the knowledge that frees us to be our best, to make the wisest daily decisions, to thrive and excel with everyone's collective genius and gifts.


Today
1.  Living As One in North America
2.  Living As One in DR Congo, Africa
3.  Enrichment
        What good listening does
        A new song for our immigrants


= = 1 = =
Living As One
In North America
This summer in the midst of headline-grabbing human failures, human successes in relationship building continue to be the new hard news.
Yet we cannot depend on only traditional, tragedy-oriented news agencies to inform us.
This summer across North America -- sometimes invisible in popular media --  youth from the Middle East and other out-of-relationship regions around Earth will get heart-connected and Dialogue skill-empowered in summer camp-like programs including:

 

Artsbridge (Tennessee)

https://www.artsbridgeinstitute.org/summer-leadership-program

Building Bridges (Colorado)

https://buildingbridgesshift.org

Creativity for Peace (New Mexico)

http://creativityforpeace.com

Global Youth Village (Virginia)

http://www.globalyouthvillage.org/participate/global-youth-village-summer/

Hands of Peace (Chicago and San Diego)

https://www.handsofpeace.org

Kids4Peace (Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, District of Columbia)

http://www.k4p.org/

Seeds of Peace

https://www.seedsofpeace.org

Another is Kids4Peace Jerusalem whose co-directors are Palestinian Tareq Samman and Jewish Israeli Meredith Rothbart, a "dynamic duo" whose own  lives are models of how people change to increase their identification that includes (not just one's own but) everyone.
READ their stories at http://www.k4pjerusalem.org/people

= = 2 = =
Living as One
In DR Congo, Africa
Africans with albinism traditionally suffer the worst kinds of prejudice, stigma, rejection, humiliation, physical brutality,and even death.
Elesse Henoc Bafandjo, one deeply motivated citizen of very modest means, has gathered all his courage and imagination to find successful ways of bringing albino and non-albino women, men, and youth together for a history-changing, shared future.

Elesse is a citizen-leader for our times, worth emulating.
He shows us how "to get something you never had, you have to do something you never did." 

READ, and VIEW
May, 2018, photos and video at http://traubman.igc.org/vidnigeriadrcongo.htm#15


= = 3 = =
Enrichment

A.  What good listening does

Listening is the most underrated of leadership, life, reconciliation, and community-building skills.
Lack of listening leads to disconnection from learning, creativity, and especially each other.

Otto Scharmer describes how quality listening helps us connect with a larger reality, become our better selves, and co-explore for the best possible future for oneself and others -- all of us.

 

Four levels of listening

Otto Scharmer

8-1/2 min video

https://youtu.be/eLfXpRkVZaI

 

B.  A new song for our immigrants

HOME

A song for our immigrants

Rita Glassman

June 2018 - 4-1/2 min

https://www.facebook.com/rita.glassman/videos/10160440521530705/


 - - -
This message is on the Web at https://traubman.igc.org/messages/713.htm
Hundreds of other success stories are preserved at https://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm