Co-create and Co-exist: BWB Forum Kicked Off

When we run into someone unreasonable at work, we get HR involved and we find another job. When students experience bullying behaviors, we want them to walk away and report the incidents to authorities. We agree that violence and retaliation are never the solution and we believe that rules and laws must be respected. We understand that each of us can only perceive the facts from our own eyes, so it is only fair to hear the other side out.

If this is true on the individual level, why it is so hard on the community level? Why do people support hawkish leaders who discard international laws? Why do people pick up weapons to harm those whom they don't even know at the order of someone else? There will always be different theories and perspectives on why and who started the wars, but the suffering is universal.

Russia and Ukraine, Isreal and Palestine, Myanmar, Algeria, Chad, Congo, Niger, Sudan, Yemen... more than 30 countries are currently experiencing wars. The sad truth is that humans have been at war with each other for thousands of years. We have always learned from different history books and listened to different preaches, so how do we live and let live? Since inequalities breed resentments which breed wars, how do we support each other to develop their full potential, even if they are not our kin?

Buddies Without Borders Online Forums are designed to encourage young people to hear from traditions and perspectives different from their own so that they can work together to create global solutions that lift all lives. Please join me in congratulating the young men and women representing 25 countries who kicked off the Green Jobs in the Green Economy Online Forum today! Each team is composed of 4-5 students from 4-5 countries. In seven weeks, we will identify the kind of leaders we want to see in our joint future.

We hope you will join us in a future Forum. In January, we will explore issues around Access to Health Care. In March, we will dig into the Idea of Coexistence. Please click on the link to indicate your interest.