Pen Thoughts

  Valarie Kaur is an American activist, documentary filmmaker, lawyer, educator, and faith leader. She is the founder of the Revolutionary Love Project . Kaur's debut book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love was published in June 2020. I was impressed by her description of "listening" and wanted to share her views on my blog: "Deep listening is an act of surrender. We risk being changed by what we hear. When I really want to hear another person’s story, I try to leave my preconceptions at the door and draw close to their telling. I am always partially listening to the thoughts in my own head when others are speaking, so I consciously quiet my thoughts and begin to listen with my senses. Empathy is cognitive and emotional—to inhabit another person’s view of the world is to feel the world with them. But I also know that it’s okay if I don’t feel very much for them at all. I just need to feel safe enough to stay curious. The most critical pa...

In May 2021,  Louis Charbonneau  a United Nations Director, published in the Foreign Policy Focus  on  How the UN can help end Israeli Apartheid and persecution ;  It was one of the most vocally direct condemnations of the Israeli occupation and the atrocities they are committing day in and day out, violating human rights all over the chart. It was surprising for me to read direct messages, holding the Israeli government the responsibilities for Palestinian suffering, an alien declaration from UN officials. Surprising statements were: "The world should stop pretending that these crimes aren’t happening. It should also not tolerate depriving millions of Palestinians of their fundamental rights in order to preserve the possibility of a peace deal that isn’t coming anytime soon." he continues with " The crime requires three elements: an intention to maintain a system of domination, systematic oppression, and inhumane acts committed as part of that project." " Hum...