Ideas

...ideas can liberate us

I watched a late night television interview with Thomas L Friedman

The author of "The World Is Flat." The cover of his book shows an artist's
depiction of ships sailing right off the edge of the world,just the way everyone used to

believe they would.

Friedman spoke about ideas, my favorite subject. He listed 10 developments which have changed the world since the fall of the Berlin wall.

When I traveled to Germany many years ago I especially wanted

to see the Wall, or what was left of it. My favorite rock group is

Pink Floyd, creators of "The Wall" which was both an album and a

movie. I have a strong sensitivity around divisive situations. The

Wall was not just a concrete obstruction to freedom but also a metaphor

for the human condition and what happens when people

are ostracized or closed off, for whatever reason.

Ideas can liberate us and renew old concepts that no longer serve

in an ever-connecting world. I feel a surge of hope because of ideas

that focus away from despair. In order to change anything, we must

be able to perceive it changed. For example, the Beatles must have

thought about peace and love; Martin Luther King and Gandhi must have thought
about freedom and equality; and I feel Christ was more

about compassion and forgiveness than an institution.

Mr. Friedman's ideas could change our country's empirical direction

to one of cooperation...one of the best ideas on Sesame Street!

The world calls for connection...or is that just my idea?

originally written in June , 2005