THINGS CAN HAPPEN TO YOU
Something strange happened to me : I fell in love with birds ! I didn ’ t like this at all , bird watching is un-cool , because anything that smells of a passion is by definition un-cool . It started with me writing lists of birds I had seen and trying to find as many different ones as possible . It went so far as making me even feel love for the pigeons .
What I am trying to say is , once you love something , that is when problems start , because once you love a part of nature you are getting more concerned about the environment .
Those who only stay at home shrugging their shoulders , saying that there is nothing that can be done , are getting no-where , you have to get out and form relationships with real people and animals . But , again , there is a danger that you might fall in love , and who knows what might happen to you then .
THE END OF FUNDAMENTALISM
( Jonathan Franzen )
The cultures of the world are coming nearer to each other and have to try to live with each other and to talk . That has been called a ‘ Dialogue of Cultures ’, yet cultures cannot really have dialogues , only people can do so .
The better these people can give account not only of their own culture but also can think ‘ into others ’, the better they can talk with each other .
A real dialogue can only happen when people take each other seriously . It can only start when there is a feeling for equal worth and equal dignity . Those who have started to have such a dialogue have already made an important decision ; they have recognised that they might not be in possession of the whole truth . They acknowledge that the other one could be right . Once you enter into that kind of conversation it is the end of fundamentalism .
Things that do not matter to me don ’ t demand tolerance of me , only when the ‘ other ’ touches my thinking and my feelings , when my own traditions meet those of other traditions .
Tolerance is something active ; it needs knowledge and understanding , including that of your own identity . It can ’ t be guaranteed once and for all , but will again and again be challenged by new questions .
( Johannes Rau , President of Germany in a speech 11 April 2001 )
Brigitte Williams
StOM Page 7