Humanity Care: UPGs and SDGs 21

 

Global Integration Updates  Special News--September 2022 Issue 75 View this email in your browser

Global Integration Updates Common Ground for the Common Good  Be the people we need--Build the world we need Special News--September 2022 Arming the World Promoting Positive Peace Facts for Advocacy and Action from 10 Sources Boy in a "rebel" camp--Central African Republic--source unknown   “The clouds that parted following the end of the Cold War are gathering once more. We have been extraordinarily lucky so far. But luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict. Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation." UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Remarks to the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1 August 2022) --------- Overview Welcome to the 75th issue of our Global Integration Updates! We are celebrating nearly eight years of providing strategic resources and personal reflections via the Updates to help "shape and support the emerging diversity of global integrators who as learners-practitioners are committed to the common ground for the common good." In this Update we focus on the various ways that the world is being outfitted for, participating in, and being impacted by armed conflicts. Specifically, and in the context of summoning us all to promote "positive peace" in our lives and world, we share summary statistics and information from 10 respected sources about national military budgets and military personnel, arms-selling and arms-buying countries, nuclear arsenals, civilian firearms and homicides, mines and munitions, UN Peacekeeping missions, forcibly displaced people, child soldiers, etc. For many people, including ourselves, reviewing the summary statistics and information below can be both surprising and alarming it can also be saddening and maddening! But we do not lose hope--nor our faith and love! See our Final Thoughts at the end about "being people of faith-hope-love in our fractured world." We echo the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 1964 Our Purpose Our purpose in compiling these summary statistics and information is to help us all better track with the "big picture" of the "offense and defense industry." However, we are not offering specific analyses or judgements. Rather we hope that this collective (all-in-one-place) information will inspire you and many others towards greater awareness, advocacy, and action to promote positive peace in our world.  "Positive Peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. The same factors that create lasting peace also lead to many other positive outcomes that societies aspire to, including: thriving economies. better performance on ecological measures. Other factors that improve with Positive Peace are measures of inclusiveness, wellbeing and happiness. Therefore, Positive Peace can be described as creating an optimal environment for human potential to flourish." Executive Summary (page 4), Positive Peace Report 2020, Institute for Economics and Peace Applications--Making It Personal --Explore. Choose one or more items below that you want to explore further including summary statistics, reports, and organizations.  --Relevance. Consider a few ways that the materials are practically relevant for your life and work. --Discuss. Share and discuss this Update with others in view of “advocacy and action” to promote positive peace. Going further--see these Global Integration Updates: --Staring War in the Face (April 2022) --Peace on Earth: Sharing our Stories and Strategies (January 2022) --Climate-Conflict-Corruption: Safeguarding People and the Planet (July 2021) --Genocide: Bearing Witness… (December 2020) --Doomsday: Next Stop, Global Dis-Integration? (June 2017) Warm greetings, Kelly and Michèle       MCAresources@gmail.com Featured Resources Arming the World Promoting Positive Peace Facts for Advocacy and Action from 10 Sources Image from the cover of Children in War, Christoph von Toggenburg/ICRC (2009) “We are a world in pieces. We need to be a world at peace.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres UN General Assembly, 19 September 2017 ----------- One: Global Citizen 10 Heartbreaking Facts About Ongoing Conflicts Around the World (April 2022) “1. There Are at Least 27 Live Conflicts Right Now. According to the Council on Foreign Relation’s Global Conflict Tracker [see image below in this Update], there are currently 27 ongoing conflicts worldwide. The tracker categorizes conflict into three groups: “worsening,” “unchanging,” and “improving.” Right now, there’s not a single conflict described as “improving.” Of those worsening are the conflict in Ukraine, the war in Afghanistan, political instability in Lebanon, the war in Yemen, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, and the conflict in Ethiopia....   3. 2 Billion People Currently Live in Conflict-Affected Areas. A quarter of the entire global population lives in conflict-affected areas. Some of the worst affected places are Ethiopia's Tigray region, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan. According to the UN, last year, 84 million people were forcibly displaced because of conflict, violence, and human rights violations. This year, it is estimated that at least 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance." Image source: Council on Foreign Relations, Global Conflict Tracker Two: United Nations A New Era of Violence and Conflict “The nature of conflict and violence has transformed substantially since the UN was founded 75 years ago. Conflicts now tend to be less deadly and often waged between domestic groups rather than states. Homicides are becoming more frequent in some parts of the world, while gender-based attacks are increasing globally. The long-term impact on development of inter-personal violence, including violence against children, is also more widely recognized. Separately, technological advances have raised concerns about lethal autonomous weapons and cyberattacks, the weaponization of bots and drones, and the livestreaming of extremist attacks. There has also been a rise in criminal activity involving data hacks and ransomware, for example. Meanwhile, international cooperation is under strain, diminishing global potential for the prevention and resolution of conflict and violence in all forms.” (excerpt from the summary) United Nations Peacekeeping “UN Peacekeeping helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. We have unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy troops and police from around the world, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to address a range of mandates set by the UN Security Council and General Assembly.” Three: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) “SIPRI Yearbook 2022 provides an overview of developments in international security, weapons and technology, military expenditure, arms production and the arms trade, and armed conflicts and conflict management, along with efforts to control conventional, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.” Below are some examples from the Summary. See page 18ff also for information on chemical, biological, and health security threats. ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Four: International Rescue Committee Top Ten Crises the World Cannot Ignore in 2022 (updated July 2022) “The International Rescue Committee has released its 2022 Emergency Watchlist, a global list of humanitarian crises that are expected to deteriorate the most over the coming year. Most Watchlist countries—the top ten in particular—have experienced almost non-stop conflict over the last decade, hampering their ability to respond to global challenges like COVID-19 and climate change. These 20 countries are home to 10% of the global population but account for 89% of those in need of humanitarian aid worldwide. (N.B. The 2022 Emergency Watchlist was compiled before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For updates on the humanitarian situation inside Ukraine, and for refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, please visit our Ukraine Crisis page.) Displaced families, and in particular women and girls, are disproportionately affected by the crises, which are more than a series of unfortunate events, stresses David Miliband, IRC president and CEO. “The story told by the Watchlist makes a bigger argument,” he writes in the report, “not just that there are more poor and more people forcibly displaced, but that the scale and nature of humanitarian distress around the world constitutes a system failure.”   The IRC has produced a Watchlist each year for over a decade. Over this time, it has evolved from a purely internal aid for emergency preparedness planning into a public report that warns global leaders, policymakers and concerned citizens not just where crises are deepening but why they are deepening and what can be done about it.” Five: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) UNHCR Figures at a Glance ---------- ---------- Six: Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor Summary of Landmines “Casualties. 2020 was the sixth year in a row with high numbers of recorded casualties due to mines, including improvised types, as well as cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). The continuing high casualty total recorded is mostly the result of increased conflict and contamination observed since 2015. In 2020, at least 7,073 casualties of mines/ERW were recorded: 2,492 people were killed and 4,561 people were injured, while the survival status was unknown for 20 casualties. The 2020 total represents an increase from the 5,853 casualties recorded in 2019, and is more than double the lowest annual recorded total (3,456 in 2013). The vast majority of recorded mine/ERW casualties were civilians (80%) where their status was known. In 2020, children accounted for half of all civilian casualties where the age was known (1,872). As in previous years, in 2020, men and boys made up the majority of all casualties (85%) for which the sex was known.”   See also the Summary of Cluster Munitions. Seven: Small Arms Survey Global Firearms Holdings “There are more than one billion firearms in the world, the vast majority of which are in civilian hands. The Small Arms Survey estimates that of the one billion firearms in global circulation as of 2017, 857 million (85 per cent) are in civilian hands, 133 million (13 per cent) are in military arsenals, and 23 million (2 per cent) are owned by law enforcement agencies. Our studies suggest that the global stockpile has increased over the past decade, largely due to civilian holdings, which grew from 650 million in 2006 to 857 million in 2017.”   ---------- 2022 update of the Small Arms Survey’s Global Violent Deaths (GVD) database “According to the latest update of the Small Arms Survey's Global Violent Deaths (GVD) database, loss of life resulting from interpersonal violence decreased substantially between 2016 and 2020. The GVD database collates data on homicides and direct conflict deaths into a single ‘violent death’ indicator (not including suicides), dating back to 2004. In its 2022 update, estimating lethal violence as of the year 2020, the database reveals that the global rate of violent deaths decreased from 9.1 per 100,000 people to 6.8 per 100,000 people between 2016 and 2020. Similarly, firearm-related violent deaths on the global scale decreased from 3.9 per 100,000 in 2016 to 2.7 per 100,000 in 2020. In total, 531,000 people died violently in 2020, out of which 40 per cent (211,000) were killed by firearm.   However, while the decrease in the global violent death rate and count suggests a positive trend, the impact of ongoing conflicts (such as in Ukraine), as well as recent increases in homicides in some countries, risk reversing it. This also implies that possible progress towards meeting Target 16.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—reducing all forms of violence and related death rates—would similarly be stymied.”   Eight: Human Rights Watch  Child Soldiers “Thousands of children are serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world. These boys and girls, some as young as 8 years old, serve in government forces and armed opposition groups. They may fight on the front lines, participate in suicide missions, and act as spies, messengers, or lookouts. Girls may be forced into sexual slavery. Many are abducted or recruited by force, while others join out of desperation, believing that armed groups offer their best chance for survival. We are working to prevent the use of child soldiers and to hold accountable the people who send children to fight.”  Nine: Theirworld Summary information on Child Soldiers “What is a child soldier? Any girl or boy below the age of 18 who is recruited or used by an armed force or armed group, in any capacity. A child soldier is not just someone who is involved in fighting. They can also be those in other roles such as cooks, porters, messengers, human shields, spies, suicide bombers or those used for sexual exploitation. It includes children recruited and trained for military purposes, but not used in war.”   How many child soldiers are there? There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today in at least 20 countries. About 40% of child soldiers are girls, who are often used as sex slaves and taken as “wives” by male fighters   Where are child soldiers recruited? Fifty countries still allow children to be recruited into armed forces, according to Child Soldiers International. Many non-state armed groups also recruit children. The UN Secretary-General’s annual “name and shame” list for 2017 highlighted the armed forces of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for recruiting and using under-18s for armed conflict. But non-state armed groups also recruit children in these and other countries.” Ten: Institute for Economics and Peace—Vision of Humanity Institute for Economics and Peace (2022) Global Peace Index 2022 “This is the 16th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks...163 countries comprising 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace across three domains: the level of societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation. In addition to discussing the findings from the 2022 GPI, the report includes an analysis of the military conflict in Ukraine. It covers likely increases in military spending, new and emerging uses of technology in the war, its impact on food prices and global shipping routes. The report also contains a deeper analysis on violent demonstrations around the world....   Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the index by New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark and Austria. Afghanistan is the least peaceful country in the world for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Yemen, Syria, Russia and South Sudan. All of these countries have been among the ten least peaceful countries for the last three years....Of the 163 countries in the GPI, 84 recorded deteriorations, while 77 recorded improvements and two recorded no change in score. Fifteen of the 23 GPI indicators deteriorated between 2008 and 2021 while eight improved. Two of the three GPI domains deteriorated since 2008, with Ongoing Conflict deteriorating by 9.3 per cent and Safety and Security deteriorating by 3.6 per cent.... Moving forward, the 2022 GPI reveals a world in which many nations have begun to recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of the ramifications of the lockdowns remain, including supply chain disruptions and delays, product shortages, higher energy and food prices. It is also a world that is suffering from increasing inflation, the highest levels in forty years in some countries and without an improvement in sight. The rise in food and fuel costs has increased food insecurity and political instability globally, but especially in low-resilience regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and MENA. It is in these already unstable conditions that Russia launched an attack on Ukraine in February 2022. The conflict will only exacerbate these issues further. The conflict will accelerate global inflation, with Western sanctions further contributing to shortages and hikes in prices. The impacts have been only partially captured in 2022 GPI. These near-term implications to global peacefulness may lead to deteriorations in food security, increases in militarisation and military expenditures in Europe, and greater likelihood of political instability and violent demonstrations." (excerpts from the Executive Summary) Final Thoughts Being People of Faith-Hope-Love in a Fractured World I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 1964   As people of faith who practice Christian spirituality, we are committed to responsibly engage with others in the challenges facing our world, locally through globally, while holding firmly to our belief that both fundamentally and ultimately we are in God's hands. We pray that God's purposes "will be done on earth as it in heaven;" acknowledge that prayer, repentance, and relationship with God are key to human-planetary wellbeing; and live in hope for the time when God through Jesus Christ will decisively intervene in human history with equity--righteousness and justice--to restore all things. And in the meantime...we seek to embrace lifestyles that prioritize a deep, practical love for truth, peace, and people. We do not want to further problemitize our world's plight by focusing primarily on the negative. Rather we want to also promote the many examples of the good going forward, as people of good will find common ground for the common good. And we affirm, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., that human progress comes from "the tireless efforts of [people] willing to be coworkers with God." Kelly and Michèle Member Care Associates MCAresources@gmail.com Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations across sectors (e.g., mission, humanitarian, peace, health, and development sectors) as well as global mental health and integrity/anti-corruption, all with a view towards collaboratively supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, resource development, and publications. Click on these items below to access our: Member Care Updates, Global Integration Updates, member care books, and recent MCA publications. Global Integration     Global Integration (GI) is a framework for actively and responsibly engaging in our world--locally to globally. It emphasizes connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity, commitments, and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based). GI encourages a variety of people to be at the “global tables” and in the "global trenches"--and everything in-between--in order to help research, shape, and monitor agendas, policies, and action for all people and the planet. It intentionally links building the world we need with being the people we need.   Our Global Integration Updates are designed to help shape and support the emerging diversity of global integrators who as learners-practitioners are committed to the "common ground for the common good."  2015-current (70 issues). Some examples of foundational ones: Doomsday?--June 2017 Living in Global Integrity--April 2017 Peace and Security--December 2016 Global Citizenship--June 2016 Faith-Based Partners in Transformation--August 2015 Global Pearl The image at the top of the Update (global pearl) is a cover detail from our edited book, Global Member Care (volume 2): Crossing Sectors for Serving Humanity (2013). William Carey Library.  ------   Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.  Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 1963)

Humanity Care: UPGs and SDGs 6

Global Integration Updates Special News--December 2019 View this email in your browser

Global Integration Updates Common Ground for the Common Good  Build the world we need--Be the people we need Special News--December 2019 Peace, Justice, Inclusion and Strong Institutions Updates on Sustainable Development Goal 16+ HERE is the link for the full Update Advances in ending violence, promoting the rule of law, strengthening institutions and increasing access to justice are uneven and continue to deprive millions of their security, rights and opportunities and undermine the delivery of public services and broader economic development. Attacks on civil society are also holding back development progress. Renewed efforts are essential to move towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16. Progress on the SDGs: Report of the Secretary-General, UN (paragraph 37, July 2019) ---------- In this Update we focus on Sustainable Development Goal 16+ (SDG 16+). SDG16+ includes additional Targets from seven other 17 SDGs and hence provides a broader framework for peace, justice, and inclusive societies.  It is seen to be "an enabler and accelerator" for all the SDGs. We feature four recent resources-reports which collectively describe the good news and bad news about progress, and the challenges of measuring progress,  on the SDG 16+ and its Targets. They are: --The SDG Report 2019, United Nations (2019) --SDG Tracker, Goal 16, Our World in Data (2019) --Implementation of the 2030 Agenda through SDG 16+, Global Alliance (2019) --SDG 16+ Progress Report, Institute for Economics and Peace (2019) We encourage you to look over the summaries in the above materials (we orient you below using blue highlights). And then go deeper as you have time and interest. It is not necessarily exciting reading, yet we think it is essential reading to inform and impact our work across sectors, countries, and SDGs. We finish with some brief reflections on "fulfilling our political and moral responsibilities" in the efforts to realize the SDGs. This includes prioritizing both social transformation and personal transformation, confronting corruption along with developing integrity, and encouraging faith-based efforts in SDG efforts and vice versa. See also: --Peace and Security  (resources on our MCA website) --Integrity and Accountability for UN Staff, UN Special (March 2017, April 2017) --9 December: International Anti-Corruption Day --10 December: Human Rights Day Warm greetings from Geneva, Kelly and Michèle       --Share your comments and resources on our MCA Facebook page --Send us your ideas and resources for future GI Updates  MCAresources@gmail.com HERE is the link for the full Update

Loving Truth and Peace--4

Counting the Cost

From dawn to dusk the correction and copying of the Gulag went forward; I could scarcely keep the pages moving fast enough. Then the typewriter started breaking down everyday, ... This was the most frightening moment of all: we had the only original manuscript and all the typed copies of Gulag there with us. If the KGB suddenly descended, the many-throated groan, the dying whisper of millions, the unspoken testament of those who had perished, would all be in their hands, and I would never be able to reconstruct it all, my brain would never be capable of it again.

I could have enjoyed myself so much, breathing the fresh air, resting, stretching my cramped limbs, but my duty to the dead permitted no such self-indulgence. They are dead. You are alive: do your duty. The world must know all about it.

They could take my children hostage – posing as “gangsters,” of course. (They did not know that we [my wife and I] had thought of this and made a superhuman decision: our children were no dearer to us than the memory of the millions done to death, and nothing could make us stop that book.)

 

Excerpt from The Oak and the Calf, 1975, A. Solzhenitsyn, English translation, 1979, 1980 by Harper and Row Publishers. 

 

The Oak and the Calf:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oak_and_the_Calf

The Gulag Archipelago: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago

Pax Dei--Living in Peace 1

The Non-Noble Non-Peace Prize

 

Sarin gas attack near Damascus, August 2013.

Note: the video is graphic and disturbing.

http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3Dn2GPTqxf8rE

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 We think it would be good to award a Non-Noble Non-Peace Prize. This prize would go to an egregious entity that makes a significant nd destructive contribution to undermining peace in the world and ruining human lives. One possible candidate for the first recipient(s) would be the entity—that is, people—who actually manufactured and sold the chemical products to Syria (and other nations) so that horrific weapons of mass destruction could be created, stockpiled, and utilized. The citation for the prize could read:

.

“Congratulations on your corruption
--your intentional cowardice, complicity, and cover-ups-- 

in promoting massive crimes against fellow humans.”

 .

Yesterday the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.” This Prize has been awarded annually since 1901 to entities that have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize)

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The official press release from 11 October 2013 provides some background on the use of chemical weapons and hence the relevance of this year’s prize:

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 “During World War One, chemical weapons were used to a considerable degree. The Geneva Convention of 1925 prohibited the use, but not the production or storage, of chemical weapons. During World War Two, chemical means were employed in Hitler’s mass exterminations. Chemical weapons have subsequently been put to use on numerous occasions by both states and terrorists. In 1992-93 a convention was drawn up prohibiting also the production and storage of such weapons. It came into force in 1997. Since then the OPCW has, through inspections, destruction and by other means, sought the implementation of the convention. 189 states have acceded to the convention to date. The conventions and the work of the OPCW have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law. Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons. Some states are still not members of the OPCW. Certain states have not observed the deadline, which was April 2012, for destroying their chemical weapons. This applies especially to the USA and Russia. Disarmament figures prominently in Alfred Nobel’s will. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has through numerous prizes underlined the need to do away with nuclear weapons. By means of the present award to the OPCW, the Committee is seeking to contribute to the elimination of chemical weapons.” (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2013/press.html)

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Pax Dei

Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34: 11-14, NIV

Member Care and Transparency—Part 6, Summary

Developmental Musings on Living Shalom

Transparency involves sharing truth wisely.

It builds trust and promotes true peace—shalom (שָׁלוֹם).

Shalom is what we yearn for in member care and in life:
“holistic well-being for all."

Speak the truth to one another

and judge truthfully so that there will be shalom

…therefore love truth and shalom (Zechariah 8:16,19).

*****

We love these wise words above from Zechariah, the 6th century BC Jewish prophet. They are core guidelines for us. Call us on skype sometime, for example, and you will see these words pop up by our profile: "Love both truth and peace." But more importantly, we want these words to be permanently engraved on the profiles of our hearts. May they guide you and all of us now into the personal integrity and relational health that are needed to truly do member care well. Live shalom.

Summary Principles: 12 Thoughts on Transparency

**Transparency is developed throughout our lives and especially influenced by our parents and other role models.

**Transparency is part of our core being and is part of a lifestyle of integrity.

**Transparency is a commitment to honesty with ourselves and others.

** Transparency builds trust and trust builds relationships.

**Transparency involves having the courage to admit errors and wrong actions.

**Transparency involves having the courage to compassionately confront others.

**Transparency is a core part of accountability, both personally and organizationally.

**Transparency is the responsibility of both leaders and staff in organizations.

**Transparency is modeled by leaders who share information, self-disclose, and invite honest feedback.

**Transparency requires prudence to determine how much, when, and with whom to openly share.

**Transparency requires risk, and taking risks is often part of acting ethically.

**Transparency promotes holistic well-being for all.

Transparency and Friends
The photo below is a bit unusual for sure. These folks are 12 special little “buddies” in our office. Can you find them all? Perhaps you have some similar things in your office? (smile)

                                 

For example, there's the Gingerbread Boy home-made in France, a Limber Jack from Vermont USA, Gumby the animation celebrity with klompen shoes from The Netherlands, a subdued Pinoccio from a Roman vendor, Tony the Tiger of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes fame wearing an American football helmet and heroically brandishing a sword, a Hongkongese rooster, a medievel knight on his trusted three-legged steed, and even a little green shamrock sprouting arms and legs.

These wee folks come from all over the world and mostly from places where we have lived or worked. They are daily reminders of some great human friends we are privleged to have across the globe--people with whom mutual transparency and holistic well-being are central parts of our relationship. And I guess now these 12 buddies in our office will also be reminders of the 12 principles of transparency summarized above.

Transparency—The Book

Here is a final set of quotes from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). This is a timely book to further instruct all of us in the mission/aid and member care community.

"Leaders need to question their willingness to hear certain voices and not others. They need to make a habit of second-guessing their enthusiasms as well as their antipathies, since both can cloud their judgment." (p. 27)

“…Leaders demonstrate their respect by giving followers relevant information, by never using or manipulating them, and by including them in the making of decisions that affect them.…That’s why the failure to include people is the second-most common source of mistrust, close behind the failure of leaders to tell the truth consistently…To renege on one’s word may seem necessary to some leaders, but in the eyes of followers it is a betrayal of trust...In essence, trust is hard to earn, easy to lose, and, once lost, nearly impossible to regain.” (p. 63)

"….three requisite steps for the exercise of integrity [from Yale law professor Stephen Carter]: 1. Discerning what is right and what is wrong; 2. Acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; 3. Saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right and wrong." (p. 72)

Reflection and Discussion

1. Which of the above 12 summary thoughts on transparency are the most relevant for you now?

2. Are there additional thoughts (principles) that you would like to add to this list?

3. Who are you true friends with whom you can be mutually transparent?

4. Transparency is part of integrity. It can be risky. Give an example, especially in light of the final quote from Bennis et al (quoting Stephen Carter on integrity).

*****

Note: Here is little treat for you who have read through all of these six entries. Turn up the volume and enjoy! It’s a six minute clip from Paul McCartney’s 2008 concert in Quebec. C’est très bon et très cool! The last two minutes are especially relevant. Live shalom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thecXP_0eVc

Relational Reality and Dysfunction

Truth, Peace and Pseudo-Mutuality
**

Zechariah 8:19 unequivocally exhorts us

to “love truth and peace” in our relationships.

Truth and peace are the “sine quo non” of relational health. They are the two core criteria to help us assess our “relational reality”. Truth and peace are very different from the common “dysfunctional counterfeits” of half-truths and feigned unity. We often settle for these counterfeits, although deep inside we really want relationships that are much more healthy. But are we willing to pay the price?
**

As an illustration, consider this drawing below, from one of my first “books” called Tommy Tomato Runs Away (1968). What does this picture say about the Tomato family’s “relational reality”? How close are they—physically and emotionally--as they sit around the table? Tommy is on the right, the mom is on the left, and the dad is in the middle. They are all smiling, but they are distant….and this incongruence is a tell-tale sign that something is not right.

A related concept is “pseudo-mutuality” from the family therapy field. This concept refers to relationships that are characterised by a superficial or even false intimacy. People pretend to be close, and everthing is always "nice"—hence there is a distortion of reality. Truth and peace get compromised. Dysfunctional systems and people practice this type of pseudo-mutuality.
**
In summary: The core purpose of dysfunction is to distort reality. This distortion helps to protect oneself, one’s family, one’s organisation, etc. It replaces truth and peace with the counterfeit--pretending.

Refection and Discussion
** To what extent are any of your current relationships reflected in:
a) the above picture, or b) the concept of pseudo-mutuality?
**What are a couple things you can do with your friends/colleagues in order to promote a “relational reality” characterised by more truth and peace?