We are looking for people, organizations and candidates who understand that we cannot expect the people who presently run the system to change it. We need people who cannot stand political rhetoric, the negativity and anger and who demand representation from our elected representatives. Here is what you can do:
We must be honest with ourselves, about ourselves. The world has changed. We must use our rational brains, so we can use what we have learned from science and history to correct our problems.
We all see the differences between people first, but now we know that the differences are superficial because we have learned that:
1. Our brains are very similar and have the same brain bugs that everybody else’s does
2. Our genes are 99.9% the same as everyone else’s and everything on Earth.
3. We all have the same basic needs, but because of the ways, we are raised, treated and the environments and experiences we encounter, we all adjust and compensate differently.
4. Abraham Maslow took a new positive approach. He realized that our needs had to be fulfilled if we were to be successful. If they were not a vast variety of problems would occur. (We talk more about this here)
We live in a world that thinks that the best way to discuss an idea is to set up a debate; to cover news is to find people who express the most extreme, polarized views and present them as “both sidesâ€. The Argument Culture pushes us to settle disputes in litigation; to begin an essay by attacking someone; and the best way to show you’re really thinking, is to criticize.â€
(Tannen, Deborah, “The Argument Culture“, (p 3-4))
Unless we develop civil, compassionate relationships and get to know people as they are, not as they appear to be, we will never solve anything.
Our 3 step Approach to Getting Better Outcomes
1. Our first step comes from the Old Testament. Rabbi Yisroel Meyer Kagan used 31 Commandments to write clear, easy to follow guidelines. These “10 Steps to Eliminating Evil Speech/Verbal Abuseâ€, show us how to get along better.
Action Steps
1. Study the 10 steps and practice using them.
2. Start a support/learning group.
3. Get a supply of the 10 steps and spread the word.
4. Write a blog post.
5. Rebuke a habitual user of evil speech.
6. Make a donation toward development of a “Dare†type program.
2. Our Candidate Conversations, Interviews and Town Hall meetings make it possible to find the character traits, universal values and ethics that have been lost.
Action Steps
1. Give Politicians a copy of the 10 steps.
2. Invite them to a support group or presentation.
3. Offer them the opportunity to participate in a Candidate Conversation or Interview.
4. Organize a group presentation.
5. Contact us to set up a candidate conversation for a political race about which you are concerned.
6. Sponsor a Candidate Conversation, interview or Town Hall meeting.
7. Donate so that we can establish a fund for Candidate Conversations, interviews, and Town Hall meetings. This will permit us to provide the service when a group does not have the funds to pay for it.
3. Nonviolent Communication “helps us connect with each other and ourselves in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish. It guides us to reframe the way we express ourselves and listen to others by focusing our consciousness on four areas: what we are observing, feeling, and needing, and what we are requesting to enrich our lives. NVC fosters deep listening, respect, and empathy and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart.â€
Action Steps
1. Learn from the videos on YouTube.
2. Buy the book and workbook and download the guidelines, so that you can study the material yourself.
3. Find a Practice Group to study and learn with.
4. After you finish the course, start your own group.
5. Take advanced workshops offered by other providers.
6. Donate so we can educate more people, start more groups and build more communities.
Donations are always welcome. They can be made more meaningful by dedicating them to someone you love. We suggest making them in multiples of $18 because the Old Testament Hebrew word for “Life†carries that numeric value.
Educational Seminars: We have a variety of material and can present information on many topics. Just ask.
Change is hard. But “Unless we become the change we wish to see in the world,†no change will ever take place. We have to stop waiting for the other person to change first. (Arun Gandhi, quoting his grandfather, Mahatma.)
Together we can make real, positive,
permanent change happen.
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