Listening - the common ground amid conflict

The Seattle Times earlier in August ran a story about a local woman who believes in the healing and redemptive power of merely listening to others' stories. And it's not just her anymore. Her organization, The Compassionate Listening Project, is an international force for conflict resolution. Not just stopping fighting or imposing a fragile (and often false) "peace" onto a crisis situation, but rather cultivating deep reconciliation among individuals and populations that have been cultivating deep division for so long.

The article is worth reading. It is one model for genuine peace-making - both among ourselves and as a vision for international conflicts that popular culture or the military-industrial complex would have us believe is impossible.