My Philosophy
We live in a truly globalized world, where the effect of polarizing news is magnified by borderless societies and rampant economic disparity. The way we educate can either promote courage and unity or increase fear and divisiveness. It should be everyone’s mission to seek a balanced portrayal of things and that mission requires great courage – the courage to constantly challenge our own judgement about safety and what divides us.
We are irrational creatures, swept by emotions, who find it hard to accept that everyone else, no matter where they were born or what they worship, is also ruled by emotions and, just like us, tends to see the world through the lenses of his/her own experience.
I am convinced that we cannot understand ourselves if we do not understand others. Getting to know others requires avoiding the twin dangers of overestimating how much we have in common and how much divides us. Our shared humanity and the perennial issues which affect life mean that we can always learn from and identify with the thoughts and practices of others, no matter how alien they might first appear.
IF WE ASSUME TOO READILY THAT WE CAN SEE THINGS FROM OTHER’S POINT OF VIEW, WE END UP SEEING THEM FROM MERELY A VARIATION OF OUR OWN.