“The essence of the work I do is to love.” I know George through various activist projects in the Philadelphia area. I’ve even gone to “folk sings” at his home in West Philly–one of my unfulfilled goals is to join him in singing Handel’s Messiah. But things changed when I attended my first Training for Social… Read more »
Category: North America
JOHN PAUL LEDERACH
“The primary practical task of those working for reconciliation is to help create the space where Truth, Mercy, Justice, and Peace can truly meet and thresh things out…We need to recognize all their concerns as proper, provide them with voices, respond to their fears and needs, and place them in an open and dialogical setting”… Read more »
KEN SEHESTED
“There are a lot more of us out there than anybody knows, and we need to find more ways to stay connected, to instruct and encourage each other, sometimes to argue with each other, because it’s not just the world that refuses to listen—sometimes our churches refuse to listen as well.” Ken is the longtime… Read more »
MYLES HORTON (1905-1990)
“If people have a position on something and you try to argue them into changing it, you’re going to strengthen that position. If you want to change people’s ideas, you shouldn’t try to convince them intellectually. What you need to do is get them into a situation where they’ll have to act on ideas, not… Read more »
William Ury
“Getting along is not the absence of conflict, but the strenuous processing of conflicting needs and interests.” Steps to win-win solutions have become a centerpiece in my own workshops to train peace activists. Ury and Roger Fisher’s 1981 book, Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, put this process together in such a clear… Read more »