Nissim Dahan
Admin
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12.14.2007 14:50
Thank you Valentin,
As always, your comments are thoughtful and eloquent; so much so, in fact, that we can all see, in you, an important writer in the making.
I appreciate your endorsement of my book. I can use all the help I can get in that department, believe you me.
I also agree with your point that our society has become so specialized, and so "fast paced," as you suggest, that we leave it to the "experts," or to the people of "power and privilege," to come up with solutions, solutions which are often "abstract and complicated," as you say.
And yet, with all the specialization, and all the expertise, and all the knowledge at our disposal, we still seem to be sinking ever deeper in the existential quicksand of our own mistakes. What this suggests to me is that the answer to our problems is not all that complicated, and is not confined to the ruminations of experts. The answer is staring us in the face, for all to see, and for all to play a part in.
Let's look at peace, for example. The quesiton is often asked: Where will peace come from? To my mind, in the final analysis, peace will come from the heart and the mind of the man on the street. We can win his mind by speaking to him with common sense and with a sense of personal dignity. We can win his heart by investing in him- by giving him a place at the table, a stake in his future. And we can win the peace by selling him on a Vision of Hope.
Such a common sense apprach will work not because it is hard to understand, but precisely because it is accessbile to all of open hearts and open minds. The gift we were given to bring a semblance of order to this good earth is the gift of common sense. It is "common" because it is accessible to all. It makes "sense" because it is sensible in its approach. And it will work because it gives expression to the goodness and beauty that surrounds us, the goodness and beauty that often eludes us, but that can also become a part of who we are as a people.
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