Week 5 - War and Peace "Do we need armies if we want peace?"

Thesis:  Sometimes only the gun can stand between good and evil. 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8  

"The commandment forbidding killing was not broken by those who have waged wars on the authority of God, or those who have imposed the death-penalty on criminals when representing the authority of the state, the justest and most reasonable source of power." St. Augustine

General Petrus J.M. "Peter" van Uhm is a four-star general in the Royal Netherlands Army and the current Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff. He has had an outstanding carrer over four decades in the Dutch military. 

In the Netherlands, he is know from his personal tragedy. On 18 April 2008, one day after Van Uhm was appointed Chief Defence Staff, his son First Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm was killed in a roadside bombing in Uruzgan. Van Uhm’s incredibly dignified and human response has astounded many. 

Peter van Uhm is the Netherlands’ chief of defense, but that does not mean he is pro-war. In this talk, he explains how his career is one shaped by a love of peace, not a desire for bloodshed -- and why we need armies if we want peace.

Week 4 - War and Peace "How do I deal With a Bully Without Becoming a Thug?"

Thesis: To love our neighbor as ourselves we must think more carefully about when we should resort to violence.

But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  Matthew 5:39

Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is the monster that swallows it up. - Mahatma Ghandi  

Scilla Ellworthy - "How do I deal With a Bully Without Becoming a Thug?"



When Scilla Elworthy was 13, she sat in front of her television set watching as Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest. Immediately she started packing her bags. "What are you doing?" her mother said. "I'm going to Budapest," she said. "They're doing something awful and I have to go." 

Years later, Elworthy is a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and a recipient of the Niwano Peace Prize. In 2002 Elworthy founded Peace Direct, which supports local action against conflict, and in 1982 founded Oxford Research Group, a think-tank devoted to developing effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers and their critics. Beginning in 2005 she helped set up The Elders initiative as an adviser to Sir Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.In this wise and soulful talk, peace activist Scilla Elworthy maps out the skills we need -- as nations and individuals -- to fight extreme force without using force in return. To answer the question of why and how non-violence works, she evokes historical heroes -- Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela -- and the personal philosophies that powered their peaceful protests.

Week 3 - Introduction: Open Thou Mine Eyes and I Shall See

Thesis:  To love our neighbor we must learn to see what is right in front of us. 

Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Master, let me receive my sight.”  And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. Mark 10:51-52
Open thou mine eyes, and I shall see. Incline my heart and I shall desire.  Order my steps and I shall walk.  Lancelot Andrews 

How do organizations think? In her book, Willful Blindness, Margaret Heffernan examines why businesses and the people who run them often ignore the obvious -- with consequences as dire as the global financial crisis and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Heffernan’s third book, Willful Blindness was shortlisted for the Financial Times/GoldmanSachs Best Business Book award in 2011. 

Margaret Heffernan began her career in television production, building a track record at the BBC before going on to run the film and television producer trade association, IPPA. In the United States, Heffernan became a serial entrepreneur and CEO in the wild early days of web business and was named one of the Internet's Top 100 by Silicon Valley Reporter in 1999.  

Gayla Benefield was just doing her job -- until she uncovered an awful secret about her hometown that meant its mortality rate was 80 times higher than anywhere else in the U.S. But when she tried to tell people about it, she learned an even more shocking truth: People didn’t want to know. In a talk that’s part history lesson, part call-to-action, Margaret Heffernan demonstrates the danger of "willful blindness" and praises ordinary people like Benefield who are willing to speak up.

Week 2 - Introduction: What Does It Mean To Truly Have Empathy?

Thesis: Even our enemies are our neighbors.

You have heard that it was said that you should 'love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. - Matthew 5:43-44

While nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer, nothing is harder than to understand him. - Dostoevsky

By leading the Americans in his audience step by step through the thought process, sociologist Sam Richards sets an extraordinary challenge: can they understand -- not approve of, but understand -- the motivations of an Iraqi insurgent? And by extension, can anyone truly understand and empathize with another?

Identifying himself as "an iconoclast from Toledo, Ohio," and identified by David Horowitz as one of the "101 Most Dangerous Academics in America," Sam Richards is one of the most provocative, and popular, sociology teachers in the country. Every year 725 students at Penn State University take his course on race and ethnic relations, where he attacks, with humor and courage, questions most would choose to avoid.

He is also the founder of the World in Conversation project. Every year, more than 7,000 students participate in its mission is to create a conscious dialogue around the politically incorrect thoughts of the participants, bringing them out in the open for inspection.