Derrick Ashong – Winning From Change
Derrick Ashong: It’s difficult. It’s really, really hard. Sometimes what it takes to actually build bridges is to stay and deal with very, very difficult things. I will give you a practical example.
Three years ago I took a trip to Israel and Palestine. I got a chance to really engage with both cultures, and it was incredible, a life changing experience. Look at the news of what is going on right now in Israel and Palestine. And to be honest, I fully understand why the Israelis are upset. I fully understand why the Palestinians are upset.
The reality is in our news media and our culture here in the US. We tend to understand the Israeli side more than the Palestinian side. And the difficulty and the sad thing about that is both of them have grievances. In order to find peace, we have to find a way to talk to everybody, that’s the building the bridge; I hear you, I see you, I understand where you are coming from, I want to connect with you where you are and maybe we can go together to somewhere better.
But that requires humility on the part of the interlocutor, and sadly when I look at what’s happening in our world today, we don’t have a lot of honest brokers who will really speak truth, who will really say like, ‘hey, here is the problem, this is why we must be compassionate for all parties involved’. And in the absence of that compassion it is very difficult to make peace.
