Now What?

[kenoli Oleari]

Here's an idea (from Tom Atlee) of a place to start:

Dear friends,

I offer these questions -- formulated today with my daughter Jennifer -- as
a resource for those of you wishing to organize conversations around the
current crisis.

Use whatever conversational process and venue you are most comfortable
with.  If you would like a suggestion, gather 2-20 people for a listening
circle (aka talking circle or council, ref
<http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-listeningcircles.html>).  You can do it
at home, at work, at your place of worship, in a library room, wherever.

Read over the list of questions below.  Add any others that come to you,
avoiding leading questions and questions that invite simple, shallow
answers (e.g., yes or no).  Pick one or more questions and have people
speak from their hearts about it.

To choose questions, you might place your own favorite dozen questions in a
hat, then have a participant pick 1-3 questions out of the hat, which
everyone then speaks to.   Or put up a list of a dozen or so and take 5-10
minutes with the group brainstorming some other questions that interest
them.   Then have each person choose their favorite half of the list (e.g.,
their favorite ten out of a list of 20).  Pick the question with the top
votes, and have everyone speak to that.

Or do something else.  Feel free to use these questions in any way you
wish, including for your own reflection or to ask your friends and family.

I hope they prove useful for you.

Coheartedly,

Tom

_ _ _ _

INQUIRIES ARISING FROM THE CRISIS OF SEPTEMBER 11th


 What could lead someone to do something like this?

 What might we do differently so that fewer people hate Americans?

 What response would move us to a world in which this kind of thing
wouldn't occur?

 How well do revenge and punishment serve us?

 How can the media be most helpful in these times?

 What constitutes real safety and security?

 What is the worst response we could have in this crisis?

 How do we deal with personal and communal suffering?

 What ways of dealing with our emotions serve us or make things worse?

 What can we learn from this?  What are the most important lessons?

 What is the place of anger in this situation?

 What are you feeling in your body right now?

 What could have prevented this?...what else?...what else?...

 What consequences would result from each of those actions?

 What good could come of all this?

 What are you most scared of right now?

 What is most important to you right now?

 What would be the advantages or disadvantages of waiting until all the
evidence was in before deciding who did it and how to respond?

 How should we relate to people who applaud this act -- what difference
would it make?

 How does our society deal with trauma?  What would help our society deal
better with trauma?

 What do we need our leaders to do?  To what extent are they doing that?

 How can we effectively communicate with our leaders?

 What would we be feeling if it were proven that this was done by a white
US citizen?

 What would we be feeling if this were done to another country by an ally
of ours?  Has anything like that ever happened?

 What would have to change for there to be no terrorism?

 To what extent are we responding in automatic ways or in conscious,
creative ways? How do we feel about that?

 What outcomes of this could make you feel it has been worth it?

 To what extent do you trust what the government and/or media has been
saying about this?

 Who do you know that was directly effected by this?  What is your
relationship to those people?  How has their story affected you?

 What is the relationship between business as usual and crises like this?

 If you were the ruler of the world, how would you handle this problem?

 What does this mean for our everyday lives?

 What can one person do about this?  What can people do together?

 What changes in the system would help us?

 How should we talk with children about this?

 What responses to this have you heard that upset you or inspired you?
--Where do you think those perspectives come from?

 What does all this mean about our future?

 What does this mean about who we are as human beings?

 What does this mean about who we are as a society?

 What other questions need to be asked?

 What would have to happen for people's responses to these questions to
make a real difference in the world?
--
Kenoli Oleari, Horizons of Change, http://www.horizonsofchange.com
1801 Fairview Street, Berkeley, CA  94703   Voice Phone: 510-601-8217,
Fax: 510-595-8369, Email: kenoli at igc.org (or click on: mailto://kenoli@igc.org)

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