brother wrote: Your ideas for sowing the seeds of peace today in the minds of our children to benefit us in the future has much potential but the implementation of such an idea is harder to achieve than you can imagine. Should your next strategy not be how to get a majority of people on board to make it happen? This is what we should be concentrating on now.
I’m not sure how best to implement this idea right now. Though I have written many people (including those at UNOPS, UNFICYP, newspapers, embassies, UN missions, consulates, EU missions, universities, and Fulbright offices), I am not going to think seriously about implementing this in Cyprus for the next couple of years. I first want to worry about researching the best habits for optimizing my own health, and then I want to focus on researching all of the components needed for implementing this idea regardless of the conflict (Cyprus, Jerusalem, Panmujom, Amritsar/Lahore, the Ethiopian/Eritrean border, the Chinese/Vietnamese border, the Timorese border, and possibly the Ireland/Northern Ireland border).
In trying to do something that many would say is impossible, there are two ways to spend my time:
1. Attempting to carry out my strategy so that it will succeed in the relevant context, in this case Cyprus: (writing Cypriot officials, marketing my Cyprus website, traveling to Cyprus and trying to meet people face-to-face, etc.)
And
2. Researching two areas:
The components of my strategy itself for executing this impossible idea; I need to ensure that it is the best strategy possible for the given topic, regardless of both the geographic context (Cyprus, Korea, Jerusalem, etc.)
and whether or not I even leave my house or write anyone of importance (researching the principles of various subjects – persuasive writing, public speaking, conflict resolution in general, cooperative learning, in-school conflict resolution programs, history curricula that equally integrate two opposing perspectives, how to turn one idea into a tangible school, marketing, grant-writing, web design, and effective negotiations)
The components of my strategy for maintaining optimal health, which will allow me to have a steady stream of energy while attempting to do the impossible (researching the principles of various subjects – religion, philosophy, nutrition, stress-reduction exercises, stretching, time management, creativity/visualization, investing/taxes, automotive care, house maintenance and its major systems (heating, water, electrical), optimal emotional/physical intimacy with my spouse or girlfriend, and lastly, how to travel frugally but still in an enjoyable way) ----
This one will be good regardless of what I do with the rest of my life, and thus it is logical - at least to me - to pursue this one first.
However, you don’t need me to market this; you can just take my concept and evaluate it. If it makes sense to you, you can pitch this idea to others with as many of the essential details as possible. Talk about it with your friends, parents, politicians, and others, including the academic community. Always ask what their criticisms would be and then try to answer.
What are their criticisms of this school without there an existing political settlement? You can always come back to this thread to see my description of a specific point. Here are three web pages that might help you with marketing this idea:
1.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 0?v=glance -
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, by David Bornstein
2.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 34-0721660 The
Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell
3.
http://radio.weblogs.com/0107127/storie ... rsion.html - Tipping point summary -
All I can provide for the time being is this idea, but this idea belongs to the world, and I have to prepare myself to make it happen in any location at a moment’s notice.
2 questions for thought:
1. How will Cypriots and others 200 years from now look back and judge all of the ideas that had been proposed, all of the strategies? Which ones, if they had been implemented twenty years earlier, would have had the biggest positive impact on Cypriots’ inter-ethnic attitudes today? Would there have been another breakout of fighting?
2. Look at the feasibility of this school in a conflict that is not yours. If I took this idea to the Koreans or to Israelis and Palestinians
www.jerusalemsolution.org , what would be their concerns, criticisms, or complaints?
This schooling idea can still work if the new round of negotiations fails in October and leads to a continuation of the status quo or to permanent partition.
