When we set out to make peace, we need to bring the other to the table. That’s the first challenge. And often the next question is, “What do I call the other?” It might help to know how the others refer to themselves. But words keep changing. Yesterday’s word may no longer be correct. When I was kid, it was politically correct to refer to “colored people.” The leading civil rights organization was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Then it becam

It’s easy to put myself beyond the pale. Recently, I found myself othered for talking to peacemakers about the need to bring the other to the table. The implication is that I am creating the otherness by talking about it. I don’t see it that way: if we want to make peace, we have to begin by acknowledging that we see things differently. Focusing exclusively on “our common humanity” denies the difference. The others – whoever they are, including me – are often offended by th

As we were building our network of charter schools, probably in our fourth year, I was working on our first application for a State Department sponsored Egyptian teacher to teach Arabic to our students. I was pulling the application together, enclosing the resumes of our teachers who’d host and mentor our visiting Egyptian. Looking at Stephanie’s resume, I noticed that she’d graduated from Sacred Heart University. Wow. I taught there in the late 70’s. What a coincidence. Did