Be a citizen of the world !!!
Can I tell you how I changed myself and maybe we can use the experience as an excperiment, maybe we could all try it for one day and see how we feel afterwards?
The first step is to stop being whatever it is that you are (American, Afghani, Iraqi, Iranian, Israeli, Palestinian, Ukrainian, or anything else!)You must now look upon youself as a citizen of the world, a world as it was created millions of years ago with no borders and no passports.
This is how you breakdown the political rule.
If you make every country your country then you will never want to hurt it or anyone that comes from it, I suppose it is a bigger sense of national pride, International Pride!
A very small percentage of people will always cause harm, there are three reasons for this.
1. Mental Illness
2. Propaganda (media, political, religious)
3.Money (maybe I should have put money 1st)
If we look upon the whole world and each religion and culture as our own we will be less likely to look down on anyone as we would be looking down upon ourselves.
There are common threads in all religions, we should always remember that instead of focusing on the differences. Stop saying I am and say we are.
I look at everyone without a political or religious tag, that way I can talk happily with everyone without all the crap that happened to me clouding my mind and I am far happier for it! If for instance I started thinking differently, Oh Americans are in my country, Israeli's are hurting Palestinians, Palestinians are suicide bombers etc Iraqi's are murderers, Afghani's are the drugs dealers to the world, Iranians want to be a superpower to destroy the world, Ukraininas are selling dirty bombs to the terrorists and the third world.Do you think if we continue to think like this that there will ever be peace in the world? Who perpetuates all of these stereotypes? the media? Our governments? Ourselves? The biggest proof for me that our views are nutured not natural, was when the jeep overturned in the dessert. NO-one cared whether the person inside was this or that we all just jumped to help! This means that inside us we are human and as humans we care!
It is important to have transparency in our disscussions, maybe we could start with "This is what I was made to believe" and maybe we can end with "This is what I CHOOSE to believe"
Maybe people may think that I am a dreamer but sometimes dreams come true if you work hard and honestly with all your heart. Not for us now but for our children and grandchildren are we breaking the ice.
Best regards,
Dr.Latif Yahia.
working for peace around the world
