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Furthering Our World Symphony
This blog is dedicated to fostering appreciation of the individual and cultural differences as they contribute to our beautiful world symphony- and to fostering a key source of energy that will sustain it: global economic opportunity.
By Kim D. Bennett
If mankind could, without losing the essential integrity of individualities, take the best of the unique wisdoms that each culture has to offer and blend these into a trans-societal educational model for human development, we would create a symphony of human growth and improvement of the human condition for all.
In Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Eastern Europe, in the midst of conflict and poverty, people endure, rise to challenges, overcome and thrive. Hope is an essential element to empowerment and self-actualization of individuals and communities, even as food and shelter must first meet primary needs. I see for our best human potential nations of diverse peoples commonly anchored in tolerance– respect for differences even when they do not immediately “fit” with personal perspectives. A world grounded in respect for the beauty of individual and cultural differences will be a world of less violence and more generosity– a world of greater hope. I want to further education supporting global understanding and appreciation of individual and cultural differences.
In Western Europe and the United States, we have found that even in apparent prosperity there is often poverty of spirit. This manifests in deficits in trust, compassion and selflessness; excesses in arrogance and greed; and in excess itself. The most dehumanizing aspect of this poverty is the profound isolation that accompanies primal focus on the acquisition of material goods, rather than acquisition of the joy that accompanies connection to creative and meaningful human exchange. I want to work to counter poverty in all of its forms, and to foster realization of the larger symphony of human potential, by contributing to the groundwork that is set in the education of our world’s children. My goals are to inspire and empower people with understanding and appreciation of the beauty of cultural differences, and to facilitate a non-contentious and harmonious “world symphony” of global development.
In an explosion of previously impossible human connection through the internet, we have become a world like a child whose muscle strength exceeds its emotional development. The progression of linkages to even the most remote habitats is multiplying geometrically. With a population of over 1.3 billion, a formerly insular China has now awakened to its surrounds. The Caucuses, Tibet, Nepal, Sudan, pockets in South America– all conflicted and all connected. The impoverished in material goods suddenly “see” the global disparities: A global tidal wave of rage at the disparities looms. Simply “seeing” does not create “understanding”– much less the desire to incorporate the wisdom of other societies with so many apparent differences. Without education to foster understanding, increased aggression stemming from fear, perceived insult and intolerance is the probable outcome; the best of intentions for humanitarian outreach, less than fully fruitful.
As we connect, there is a corresponding increase in individual and communal empowerment. Super-empowered individuals and super-empowered communities are fueled by ability for expression, connectivity and commerce historically impossible. One individual now has the ability to “touch” millions. Education to foster the value and appreciation of individual and cultural differences is critical to grow world children who are super-empowered not only by technology, but socially and emotionally– children who are prepared to contribute positively to the global symphony of human development. Prevention of the injustices and imbalances that result in the need for humanitarian intervention must begin with global education at the K-12 level, in whatever classroom forms a given culture presents.
This blog is dedicated to fostering appreciation of the individual and cultural differences as they contribute to our beautiful world symphony- and to fostering a key source of energy that will sustain it: global economic opportunity.
“Whatever is right and good and pure and just, think on these things.”
