As believers we all have an opportunity and moral obligation to recognize our spiritual common ground; to rise above our differences; to combat prejudice and intolerance.
If we are to prosper together in our increasingly small world, we must listen to — and learn from each other’s stories
Today, there is no excuse for any one of us to sit back and go, “Ugh! There’s nothing I can do about it.”Because there is always something that can be done.
War over water would be an ultimate obscenity. And yet, unfortunately it is conceivable… Water has been a source over so many years of erosion of confidence, of tension, of human rights abuses, really, of so many in areas whose traditional water supplies have been controlled and depleted by occupational authorities. That must stop if we’re going to be able to develop a climate for peace.
We can and must ensure the human rights of the displaced. That begins by making their voices heard.
In the poorest countries…it is women who are the key to breaking out of poverty…and preparing another generation for…leading their countries into real security.
I had never imagined myself, nor aspired to be, a member of a royal family. I wanted to be in the Peace Corps, not a princess!
A more just world is possible.
I’ve seen it around the world, in the poorest countries and in countries riven with conflict, It is women who are the key to breaking out of poverty, breaking out of stagnation. It’s women who can contribute to achieving real security – not bombs and bullets and repressive governments.
When my father began to work with President John. F.Kennedy, we moved to Washington, D.C. I was fortunate in my pre-adolescent years, as my social and political consciousness was developing, to live at the epicentre of that dynamic, idealistic, and inspiring moment in U.S. political history, with its ethos of personal and civic responsibility, summed up so succinctly in his exhortation: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”
I join all of you who are advocates telling others that they can improve their lives and the quality of their lives and others by taking a few moments, breathing, and allowing one’s whole being to become a vessel for positivity.
I don’t think we’ve ever lived in such a dangerous time, on a range of different levels. We also live in an extremely exciting time with a multitude of opportunities for each and every one of us to engage our individual voices, to engage more effectively collectively, to tackle some of these issues that would have seemed beyond our reach just a few years ago.
What keeps me awake at night is just, Am I making the best use of the time that remains for me, to both be as good an example as I can in my own daily life, and as compelling as possible a voice for the ways in which we can all work together to tackle these issues.
Everyone I knew, including my new friends in Jordan, expressed horror at the realities of the Holocaust. But they resented, as I was growing to, how Arabs were cast as the aggressors in the dispute between Israel and the Arab countries, when it was their land that had been seized to resolve a European political problem.
A more just world is possible. In most of the global issues, and also in so many of the development issues I’m involved in in our region, the young people that I am working with are seizing the tools at their disposal and trying to use them well, for issues far larger than their immediate personal benefit and concerns. That’s what gives me hope.
My early childhood was spent living by the Pacific Ocean. I carry with me something imprinted by that wide, limitless horizon, which I learned connected us to different people and cultures, including my own family’s origins in the Arab World and Northern Europe. I understood early that my world was only a small part of a much larger one. That captivated me.
The Koran says the killing of an innocent, the taking of an innocent life, is tantamount to killing all of mankind.
We develop our beautiful planet in such a way that we brush aside the species… we risk creating a wasteland, where our aspirations will ultimately wither and die
You can see that in people around the world who struggle to survive with little or nothing. Whether they’ve been inspired by faith or by loving relationships, or whether it’s just something innate that gives them that ability to shine and inspire others.
We came together [with King Hussein of Jordan] because of a shared sense of idealism, of the value of service to a community far greater than ourselves, and the conviction that each and everyone of us can meaningfully contribute to solving even the most seemingly intractable problems.
One thing that keeps me awake at night: I am a mother and, I have to confess with great delight, a grandmother of five girls, which gives me great hope for the future – girl power! Can I say that without alienating all of the men?
The sheer folly of trying to defend a nation by destroying all life on the planet must be apparent to anyone capable of rational thought. Nuclear capability must be reduced to zero, globally, permanently. There is no other option.
King Hussein of Jordan dedicated his life – I witnessed it in his sleeping as well as waking hours – to trying to break through the impasses keeping people apart. He understood that the security and prosperity of any one of us in this world depends on the security and prosperity enjoyed by others. As Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In the Middle East, nothing could be more true.
King Hussein never lost his faith, no matter how difficult and unbearable and cruel the circumstances could be. I always remember that. It helps me get through everything. It’s a way of trying to keep that positive spirit alive for as many people as we can touch. I think that’s good for the world.
I think there are always going to be fanatics and charismatic extremists who are going to be able to draw a following.
