 So, good evening, and isn't this lovely? I mean, we weren't sure how many people would show up, and we just set up a couple of circles of chairs, and we ended up adding part of another circle. So, we were pretty good at books, and we didn't know one. Anyway, welcome. My name is Anne Holpe, and I'm a part of the Peace Center here in San Antonio. And the Peace Center does the nominations and selections of the Laureates every year, and so we have with us some of our Laureates this evening, not all of our Peace Laureates were able to be here. This is the first time that we've brought our Laureates together, and they are selected and chosen based on their years of ongoing committed service to peace in this world, and also because of their ongoing wisdom, and that's how we select the Laureates. And so with us this evening, we're just going to go around the circle, and each person can kind of raise their hand. But Rosie Castro, she is our 2015 Peace Laureate this year. Sister Maya is sitting next to her. One year, we made an entire group of the Incarnate World Sisters, Peace Laureates, and so Sister Maya is representing them this evening. And then we have Rabbi Sandlin Stahl and his wife, Lynn, and they were the Laureates for last year. I'm sorry, the Incarnate World was what year? I always get this one. 2012? 2012. And Sandlin, 2014, last year's Laureates. And we've also invited Rosalind Collier, she's co-founder of the Peace Center, and on the board of the Peace Center now, so she's sitting in as well. And Omar Shakir and you were 2011, me? This is a test. I was the year before the sisters. Okay. You came the way. But a lot of wisdom in the room. So what brought this group about? I don't think I have to say much about where we find ourselves in the world today, and trying to figure out what we do with so many things happening that have a vital nature to them. And so last summer, we were having conversations at the Peace Center, and what could we do? And we were talking about showing a film and having a discussion, not a bad thing, dialogues and all sorts of kind of conversations. What could we do? Because what we were discovering is that some of the folks in our community who have developed relationships, important relationships over the years, were not coming together because of things that were happening. What do we do with that? So we have done this in the past. When we have questions like that, we will call our lawyers and ask them, you know, do you have advice? And so I call the salts. And Sam recommended highly that we come together, that we build relationships for times like these, and that we must trust those relationships that we have built, and come together and see each other face to face and have those important conversations about things that we might see differently, but to trust those relationships. And that's how peace is really important. We build these relationships for moments just like this. Not when things are going great. That's when we build them. And so we really listened to that. We talked about it. So Rabbi Ston and Lynn invited the audience to come and those who were able to come tonight have come. And so they're going to model for us this evening a compassionate conversation or should have hand out there, it's called living room conversations that are happening across the U.S. and it's been happening in your living room or community centers or places of prayer and that type of thing. So basically those rules that are there and you can pick a topic or an issue to have those around it. Tonight's topic is not prejudice in our world. So they're going to converse about this. Sam and Lynn, we're going to begin the conversation and it's just a conversation. And they're going to model for us how to do that and we're going to watch and listen. And then about an hour and a half, we're going to take a five minute time period to talk in pairs of threes about what we've heard and then come up with questions that you can enter into the conversation and then they're going to go back into the conversation with your questions. Okay? But we'll get to that. I'll be the official timekeeper so then I'll have to worry about that. And so I just want to say real quick, take a moment to take deep breath for all of us in silence and our time began with lust, and then be compassionate and then to be good and deep conversation. I need it over two minutes, Sam. I'm going to start by saying... It's okay. I think that theoretically I am not a prejudice person. I'm really a spouse, loving everybody until I'm confronted with something real. And something I say all the time which is plaguing me all the time is that I become prejudice, most prejudice against prejudice people. And it's tough when I'm in a conversation and somebody is slamming gay people who are gay or people who are... who are Muslims or all kinds of people. And I have to constantly look at what that prejudice is and I hope we can think tonight about how prejudice impacts each of us on a personal level because as long as we keep it out there we're not going to have any transformation. And transformation I think comes when we are willing to look at our own demons. My demons come from fear. I mean, I really believe that we are either in love or fear. So I'm going to pass this on but it's something that I would like to talk about if we could among the six of us to begin with. One of the causes of prejudice is that I think that everybody is uncomfortable with anybody who is different regardless of what that difference is. It could be a difference in political orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, whatever. And I personally relate to this topic of prejudice because I grew up in an era of gentile anti-Semitism when I realized when I was living in Sharon Pennsylvania as a child that there was a club that I wasn't able to edit because Jews weren't welcome there. I knew that if I wanted to go to medical school someday that there was a quota on the number of Jewish students that would be admitted. So we grew up in a community where a tiny percentage of the people were Jewish so I was really the other there. So I personally have experienced it and I think everybody around this circle has experienced it as being the other in some way or another. We're always the other in some way. When I think of prejudice in the same way that I just heard part of what happens is it's never, I'm never the one that has a prejudice. Of course, I mean, I'm Mexican. We're the ones that are engaged. And I think of people saying, well, you're people. And immediately I react and I think the challenge is how do we suspend our own judgment about prejudice and make some room or maybe welcoming the fact that there could be a misunderstanding or a lack of knowledge or relationship and then take that as an opportunity to allow others to learn and to get to know if you can't love what you don't love or the people you've done. Well, there's just so much I think, can you hear me okay? Don't even know where to start. However, let me say this probably one of the things that I found most difficult is how difficult it is for people to talk about bias and prejudice. How defensive we get when someone is trying to explain their point of views often the other may feel attacked by that discussion and that is something that prevents us I think from going forward. One of the things that I was thinking about was Josie got him out of the sphere. She and I went to Lovlar together for 12 years. But I can remember as a child I was dark completely and so there were a couple of other dark, complex people and there was a guy who was darker, more complex than me and nobody would want to date him. Even not. You don't question yourself there comes a point of what you have to say about yourself okay, where did this come from? You see the others that react to you and your skin color, the language that you speak and the customs that you add but you don't always question not only the biases you have against others but the biases that you may have within your own culture. So I think the thing about understanding yourself is extremely important because if you can't understand yourself your own motivations the traditions and cultures you come from it's very hard to understand others and then let me just say last week I went to the Sikh exhibit at the Institute of the Texas Cultures I finally look at it I learned a great deal and for me that is the thrill and the joy of this city that there's so much to learn about each other that is one of the reasons I like Washington DC because it's such great diversity I have a grandchild who's going to a multilingual school every week they have cafeteria food from a different country and she corrects me if I say was that an Indian girl or grandma I mean you know she's five years old this little girl already is learning so much more than my limited knowledge and I find that so incredibly great because hopefully there's a hope that that generation can not grow up with the same confinement that some of us grew up with I think that you know you can choose to look at the other and be attacked or you can choose to say I want to learn about the world around me and when you do that it's just a beautiful colorful, incredible world with God's name the merciful the merciful God speaks beyond you this is a big topic this is a big subject and you mentioned fear fear I think on many levels is natural it's how we react in times of fear their fear it's going to make you cautious etc but I think a lot of times when we talk about prejudice or being hateful etc it depends it doesn't always just come from the individual him or herself if they have a support system for that or they have something fanning that or there's an ideology that says this to a group is less than or not worthy and what happens is unfortunately we build ourselves up by tearing other people down personally I feel very blessed and my mother is here this evening and my mother didn't raise me in prejudice I actually I grew up in upstate New York I went to integrated schools 26 years old so I was born in 58 grew up in the 60s and 70s and yes we caught the tail in those turbulent 60s with the assassination of Martin Luther King and President Kennedy all of that that we experienced but my personal experience my mother never poisoned me with the ideas of hate and prejudice now all of us have our biases all of us have the things that we prefer but I we didn't have a lot of Hispanics that we grew up around but certainly whites and African Americans so my point is that my hostility or prejudice towards you you would have to do something for me to go there to have that so it wasn't a racial thing it was kind of an individual thing you don't put everybody in one bag so that's kind of my mindset and then as a Muslim now today we're made out of every ethnicity every race language on the planet so again fear I'm not so mad at that but it's how we react and how we're groomed and how we think about those things that's a problem because natural we're really cautious with the uncertainties that you got to know and if we would just put more emphasis on our commonalities and our common humanity that would go all the way so maybe I'll get ahead of it with that statement so I'm back I was struck Rosie by what said about hierarchy within Mexican circles there's a catch 22 when you're kind of wide eyes and white skin in your hair and like I am a lot of times you're invited to places for Mexicans are not and you're sort of I can remember being felt feeling like I wonder if I should say something or didn't have the I didn't have the courage to speak up sometimes or sometimes I did one of my defining moments and again it's me point child my son when we were living in public at the time my son had a great school out there and I was teaching there and there was a kid that I hadn't seen before in his class and they were playing and the ad came out and got in the car and I said who's that black kid in your class and he said mom we don't have any black kids in our class I said there's a black kid in your class that you've seen before and we don't have any black kids I said Patrick there's a kid I've never seen he said oh you mean the new kid he's from Senegal the only way that I couldn't find any child in my class and my five young son redirected me in a very perplexed kind of way and said oh you mean the new kid so that really that really stuck with me about those instilled ways that our culture has of grading people by the color of their skin by the color of their party political party, religion whatever so that's part of the co-founding of the peace center store Omar said something that I think is really generally happy more and more and that is in fact studies have shown this is that when an individual has feelings about something doesn't matter what it is if they find a group for others that feel that way it strengthens them more and more and whatever it is I mean hopefully what we're in tonight is strengthening our dominance but I think that's what's happened with the polarization is that more and more people have found more and more groups to underscore what are the feelings are but my question to you Omar as you said you don't feel that it's fear but if I would do something to you then you would have issues I still wonder if that isn't about fear how I am somehow or other getting in your face or creating dissonance with you is that not I mean I don't know I don't look at the world for roles color-colored glasses I'm aware even growing up I was called the n-word and there were certain parts to be careful that when I walked in and we had gang type situations that were war-like so yes I'm aware that we developed certain sensitivities and I don't know if I could really speak to your question but for me and I know Rabbi you can relate to this as well but you've hinted on it already growing up and you're a little bit older than me and some of the things you experience you know the point I'm explaining is I have these slave experiences and that's real and there's a whole lot of things that goes along with that and after the slave experience the Jim Crow laws I think our parents probably shield us from a lot of that and protect us but at the same time this affects your psyche this affects your perception this affects your sensitivities and how you react to things and you see somebody maybe you would think overreact but you don't know from what deep place that's coming from so those are things that you have to be aware of and then it's hurtful to me you know even and I don't know I don't want to dominate the time but even bring this up at this point I'll see if it's appropriate to do that but what I would say is that I said I was going to go go ahead let's be honest go ahead with what you're going to say my point is that if you learn certain negative things or you stereotype people or you put everyone in a bag and your experience verifies that then there's the tendency to make blanket characterizations about individuals and people that's another problem stereotype for Americans or this women or that or whatever whatever our issues are so I'm saying that to say that the religion of Islam has helped me to grow and evolve and broaden my perspective and be more open minded more inclusive because I understand to you you might think that that's weird okay a Muslim saying this see what's going on in the world today but that's what's so hurtful for me as a Muslim as an African American where God has blessed me to go and where I have grown and where I have come to and then to still have perhaps a Ferguson or a New York City or Pennsylvania or an ISIS and all of those things when I'm so far removed from all of that it's hard for me to fathom how in the year 2015 we're still in those places so quick comments well I would say too you know it reminds me of the whole idea of what happens with immigrants there are so many stereotypes about immigrants and you see you know it's interesting to see in this country as we look at immigration laws that's something like 85% of Americans were ready for some change in immigration laws and yet the public policy makers will not make those changes it's almost as if you know I don't know if there's complete prejudice that's being done away with in America in terms of how they're thinking about people but the leadership doesn't keep up with that and it's extremely devastating in our community it's in any immigrant community I think the thing about bias and prejudice is how much it hurts both the person that is biased as well as the person that is the receiver of that bias this weekend Guadalupe Theater showed Children of Giant if you all get a chance Children of Giant will air on PBS I believe either this month or the middle of April it is a movie done by Dr. Galan for PBS and it is about the making of the movie Giant and if any of you probably closest to my age remember Giant because all my friends are younger never saw Giant my sons have never seen Giant but it was written by the book initially was written by a Jewish woman about a situation in Texas between the white ranchers and the Mexican American Basin but Edna Perber who is a writer got almost blacklisted because she talked about his bias and his prejudice and as a matter of fact one of the guys in Texas at all most of the theaters refused to have Giant showing San Antonio because of the portrayal of this racist society plus the portrayal of politicians who made laws for the oil companies so there are several themes in here but one of the things that you see very clearly are the children the Mexican American children that they interviewed from that were in this movie as little kids were not adults as old as I am and they talked about having gone to play in the baseball team and going to other little cities in Texas how they were treated and you think about and he talks about some of these little boys talk about you know what bias does to the psyche of an individual how much it crushes and kills you and makes you believe sometimes that you can't do anything that you aren't really well good for anything I think that much much of the historic myth around the state of Texas for me has that effect because it's always been put in a way that you know they were the conquerors and then they were the conquerors and many of us were in this conqueror and so growing up that's what we heard a lot of now that you don't get it as much it's still in the books but people don't think about it I think because it's easier not to think about it but if you get a chance do see the children of giant because there's a lot of issues around Texas around prejudice and around that whole idea that you find a group that's like mine that they can do a lot of damage Interest today is that prejudice has become national to express it openly so people do it softly you know they may be against immigrants but they're really saying they're against Mexicans it's a good thing in some ways that prejudice is no longer an acceptable social the edwards out 50 years ago was in so that's a positive sort of a positive feature also I think when we had a dangerous myth there was a print with this strategy for many decades and that was the melting pot that everybody had to shed his or her own cultural baggage had become a white Anglo-Saxon America and today we celebrate difference we bought the melting pot metaphor to a symphony orchestra metaphor where each instrument plays its distinctive sound that contributes to the beauty of the whole symphony I think one of the here to be one of the things that I'm most afraid of is that people become invisible and we're not prejudice but we also don't see and I think of that movie that is almost as satire a day without Mexicans and it's sad to see how invisible a verse can be to us so it's not just that I'm afraid but I don't even see you I don't notice you, I'm not grateful, I don't acknowledge that you exist it's a it's one of the saddest parts or dark sides of the prejudice I'm listening I think the other issue is not just what is happening in me prejudice or racism but it's also the structural that is built into our society whether it's curriculum in schools, the way we do neighborhoods or do districts all the different things that contribute to segregation and we don't call it that anymore I think racism without racism because none of us are racist, it's not cool and we never recognize it we never met anyone that says no, I'm racist or I'm having this racist moment or and so there's it's out of fashion but it's so I think naming the issue in ourselves and in our society is key because this disability is one of the most dangerous and saddest things that can happen one of the things that I was so struck with when I was traveling in the fall and we used to live in France and so we had a lot of friends in France that we visited and you know, French people like to talk a lot about the United States and the general consensus from our friends is how we have finally overcome our prejudices in the United States because we like the Barack Obama and they didn't want to hear that it had just sort of seen that way I mean they really wanted to believe that we had passed that era and you know that's they want to believe the best of us and they didn't want to hear any other any other story about that this conversation is reminding me of when we bought the house that we currently live in here in San Antonio 23, 34 years ago we were living overseas at the time and my husband called my son who was going to St. Mary's University and asked him if he could just go and hold the original deeds of the property just to have a file as an investigator and that would be his thing to do so I sent him to the courthouse and pulled the deeds and he called my husband you know what I'm gonna say Rosie and then the original deeds of our house in the neighborhood no blacks, no Mexicans my son is telling this to my husband he says, dad do they know my mom? she said you know Pat I don't think we have that anymore in the original cover but it was fashionable in that room so the people would put it in writing they would not look down on it wasn't an original it was just very expensive but it's still here today it's just kind of common in our life so that we don't just sort of feel really good about we all agree on everything here is I'd like to we're gonna take a minute to go inside and just think where in my prejudice and when I'm worse when I'm ignoring me if I can catch on Rosie said I should share with what happened the other night here in Chicago I won't go into all the details except there was a flight attendant that was so not only apathetic but he was indifferent and angry because we were going to miss our flight and so forth and it brought out he wasn't in color he was probably a wasp but he brought out the worst in us I mean both we were going to miss our flight we weren't going to get home till God knows the work flight's the next day but it brought out either I'm so I'm still mortified with the way we came across to this person and so it wasn't a prejudice but it was an experience and so I guess the question I would ask myself is when that comes forward what's going on with me what button well I know I can say right now what happened with me is I've got things I wanted to do on Tuesday that I cared about and American Airlines and O'Hara airport screwed me up and so I don't think that prejudice is necessarily always like you said about a group or this it's just when that comes out it's awful so I would like you to we're going to I think this would be a good time to make that thought so our laureate and it's challenging us all to think about ourselves but we're in one sense going to open up the conversation a little bit larger so we're all observing participants so what I want you to do you should have found if you didn't raise your hand but you should have found an index card and a pen if you didn't raise your hand and I invite you to turn to one or two people next to you and you know when you're in a conversation you really don't have a lot of time to think about the next question that you're going to ask for what you're going to say you're in a conversation so I'm going to time you at five minutes to talk to the person next to you about what you've heard and you have a question you're in to the conversation and then if you have a question on a card and you don't have to fill out a card by the way but if you have a question on a card you can raise it up then somebody, Susan or Brian are going to come and get it and we're going to pull those together we're going to ask one question at a time from that stack until eight o'clock and I'll be asking those questions to our inner conversation and they're going to bring those questions out of it. Does that make sense? You're going to talk to another person maybe come up with a question so you can keep writing your comment or question down and raise it up if you want those are also going to be sorted because there might be some that are similar but we already have two questions to ask so if I could have the lawyer's attention please they're busy they're still conversing they're just so into it alright so if we're opening up the conversation to the lawyer's we have a comment and a question here that you can talk among yourselves so you're staying in the conversation lawyer's you're staying in your conversation and just pretending there's another person there and there are a lot more than that so here's your question are you all ready? so we're dealing with a sympathetic conversation how would your conversation change if there was an extremist or a figure what do you think your conversation might change? so conversing with yourselves I'd say we would first have to let them to get all the air out you know that's kind of difficult in the sense that it could be an extreme view on so many different things and depending on what the topic is we'll determine kind of how you I don't want to say argue or debate or whatever because some things they're not even worth a response they're not even worth the energy or whatever to say okay interesting thank you for sharing there's a chance perhaps that they're on the edge or there's some anger that they're dealing with and you can help them process that help them understand where their comments are coming from and do you think that's really best if we all enact that philosophy and you know maybe you can talk from that or something like that it would just depend on what the subject is the subject is prejudice well I mean the extreme like you said we're all nicely up here but you talk about money it hates everybody I realize if you tell me a music logic for these people that's why I'm glad you said you let them air out because they're usually emotional reasons they're usually some baggage that they're carrying with them that causes this this prejudice of you for them to embrace I can remember being at function at St. Mary's where I was a speaker and I scared myself because this guy came back you know he was just really paining ass and he kept that and I just got really angry and just told him off he wasn't one of the students but he was an older guy he was not a young student he was an older guy and then much later I thought well a couple of ways of thinking one is you're the authority figure so to speak because you're doing the lesson so you really should not react in anger you should have better control but on the other hand sometimes they need to know that there's anger they need to know that they're not going to say this bullshit they can't get away with saying that to someone so I've never quite figured out I think I've learned better to react so much in anger but I just think there may be times when somebody has to be told off I was just going to say for me even in my profession I'm a prison chapter in my profession so I'm always in religious mode so to speak so regardless of what's coming at me it is my religion on my tax on my profit that gives me the way I should respond I get where you and we may step outside of that but that's the first reaction that you have and so my response is going to come from scripture or something like that so I don't know what that might make a more angry out of me I think that some knowledge is key but I'm hearing you Rosie I think sometimes when things like that happen I've been saying what you're saying I don't react but I think for a whole week because something I should have said this and I should have said this and I didn't defend myself and how come I didn't just spell them off so if something happens inside then you just need to recognize you know that open up the door for corporate claim religious what do you think the difference is between prejudice and religious liberty it seems with at least a homilally case which I think it implies that the business could deny women getting health care contraceptive contraception so forth um that's a very to me that really stepped on the rights of those women who to me is stepping over the line in terms of the separation of church and state and that's another what we were listening to very bit less like who is head of American United and I think in this country we have to be careful about allowing people that have their religious rights but on the other hand what it does I mean some woman is working for homilology and need to be able to have you know contraception so forth it's a it's very great I think one of the biggest problems we have in this whole arena in the gray black and white is so much easier and that's where I think the fundamentalists sometimes have a much easier time gray and dark and I would say too that this country has drifted away I think from the separation of church and state more and more and more and they've made done that in the name of God and it is idiotic in the sense that you have people making policy that say they are for the family that they are Christian all of this crap and yet they deny people food sense they deny children healthcare they deny veterans a home or health have in the name of God can you call that Christian crap I don't understand that we all have a separation of state where you can go back to what Jesus said give to Caesars what a Caesar to God what he's done and we are more understanding of that than to use religion as a blanket to hide our prejudices on them that's really you went where I was going to go part of the gray because we keep changing the rules we're not consistent we're hardline state on this issue and we flip somewhere else we're hardline religion that's why it's gray we don't stay in our lane we're inconsistent with religious liberty one of the biggest gifts of the United States to the rest of the world is religious tolerance this country was built on it sure it's still close to get there but I think that the more it drips away from that the more it loses its core identity and it's given to the rest of the world but why do you think what is preached isn't able to be translated genuinely to love your neighbor kind of action because of the human and because our feeders trump all that stuff that we've learned and I think that a gathering and having a conversation like this tonight look around this room these are people here who have taken a Thursday evening and come out in the home to listen to a conversation on racism and how can we replicate conversations like this around our community, around our state around our nation how can we be instrumental in fostering this kind of dialogue and allowing people who have very different opinions than we do saying we lived during that time that we were to share in the middle there about how during the political season during the election season I start feeling isolated in my neighborhood because we're the only blue people in the neighborhood and I think I like these people I like my neighbors but I don't feel myself turning into oh my goodness, here we go and I don't want to be that kind of person but it happens but if we can continue to build relationships with people who we don't agree with who were not on the same page but recognizing that they're raising their families as best they can we're raising our families as best we can we're doing what we can do because it seems to be my answer to that question would be along the lines of don't nobody get shot but the hypocrisy and what I mean by the hypocrisy is we teach certain values but we don't reward those values so we don't reinforce those values or we send our children or someone out thinking it's going to be this way and they treat people the right way and get mistreated in return for the survival of the fittest mentality so we can put our values or do unto others whatever golden rule we put in the closet on the shelf and say hey, survival of the fittest, don't get involved I'm going to get out of the way but it just takes on the spirit of its own and it consumes and it hurts people so that would be my response I was thinking about what sister said too that how we don't see people and I think that's a very thing that happens to human beings that people are out of sight their poverty is out of sight all these things are out of sight I don't have to associate with those people I don't see those people then it's not a reality the only reality is my reality and I remember this because I always have to think about things for myself and I remember when I was lacking a lot of financial resources when my children joined well, you have a certain way to feel and you're trying to make it and you're desperate and you're trying to put stuff together then you start to make more money and hey, now you've got some money saved in the bank and now you can buy a house and now you start to move into a stratosphere that is just and what you have to remind yourself is what it was like because it's easy to say well, why don't those people try harder they could get it done it's easy to say that and again that was me but you know, for the grace of God for the help of other people for opportunities that this country is supposed to be good about their life and I think the best part of what happened was too early in the response of what you just said we have to remember that the people buying the Old Testament the Bible symbolizes 36 times are reminded that we were once slaves in Egypt never forget it wherever you arrive whatever station in life you were once slaves I think of selfishness again, we're in a culture that reinforces it's all about me and me the whole time and that's something that you're saying because it's about you being ok and as I was hearing the question I thought about documentary happy I only watched it because it was free on Netflix and I realized there's something about personal fulfillment that happens only when you go to the other in compassion there's no number of gadgets there's no size of house there's no exquisite of a meal that will give you the satisfaction of being there for someone else and that's something we have to model and teach and let me say when you look at America look at how compassionate Americans respond to that isn't that amazing hurricane, you know, Katrina everybody comes to help whatever the tragedy is to give and be selfless about it and it's interesting to see that and then to see at other times the discord the disharmony and the racism that occurs it's holding these two things in the same group of people is amazing to me but to understand where we're each coming from and if we encounter somebody who's minded, is there some way to gracefully open up their world view in a sense without going frustrated with our own passion within ourselves is there some way to gracefully if you get to see a giant because I'm thinking about it now as opposed to that the reason the benefit found I think that's what they would call the Rock Hudson and the West Tater the way he came around after years and years of owning these directly slaves his son married a Mexican woman and they had this brown little kid and so when they go into the cafe and the people are trying to pick up the Mexican it's he snapped we had a discussion about how do you combat it how do you combat you know groups that are organized have resources, have the media and learn to say American state and make crazy states and I think you know the discussions I think being curious really figuring out that we live on this one planet and we can't afford to do each other it there's got to be a better way and I think that we make a good good faith effort to find that benefit I am overwhelmed with the eternal tonight to me this is incredibly hopeful and I'm actually thrilled and I think that if each of us can leave and think about not what's wrong over there or what's wrong with it but how we ourselves can be the change something to catch ourselves be a little bit more aware because I can't impact anybody else really the only person I really can change and that's not very easy is myself but if each of us leaves tonight you all would have brought an energy in here that is I mean I feel them the electricity and you're such a beautifully listening audience I just I cannot thank you all enough and you are incredible for bringing us all together I'm so so thankful for those of you suggesting the next step does anybody else in the group have a next step that you would like to take based on tonight's conversation so we're inviting us into the next thing after you give the grandchildren I think we need to get the children there's some way to duplicate this well part of what we handed out tonight that's a toolkit for anybody to go and duplicate this in their own giving this toolkitty so that these conversations start not give you 20 minutes all that 20 minutes all that I would like to know what other people say I really would like to know what you all think what the audience thinks that would be better by the way this is going to be a now cast and so I'll get to that show it to others how do you get to now cast it's now cast assay.com and also I will send it to a link to Susan to distribute to everybody who came now cast assay correct.com.com any other additional questions you can ask after this because I'm trying to order everybody's content one last conversation question of reflection has this conversation and this is for everybody has this conversation changed your perception of anyone who is caring including yourself they never have known each other though so I've never had a chance to know you now we've worked together on this work and I've also known the systems of chair but it's thrilling really to get to meet y'all we don't know each other real well but certainly that's something I would look forward to I appreciate it but I think that we were genuine and I think that we've heard the conversation thoughts the idea you did learn something of the person you know what that person is about by the way they responded to the questions on that level I think I do know a little bit more about all of us I've always known my friends here we've got a lot of work together to grab on to talk about it's been great as a non-peace warrior sitting in that circle of peace warriors I'm going to say it really makes me feel that the institutional wisdom that each of these people where in the circle of dreams needs to be captured in some sort of some of Sam Sam or Rosie sisters and cherries a book that has the wisdom that when or if Rosie dies you don't want that to go away you want that to be captured that this is how it was done in San Antonio and this is you know this is the story of not a lot of things but I think it's an important piece of our history that everybody needs to know the stories of these warriors that's just my take because I'm a peace warrior so I have to say because you've been one of the founders of the peace center with Anne we would be here about the two of you and the amount of work you have put into this is incredible and in my opinion you should have been a peace warrior along with Anne and Susan a lot of time ago secondly now I know why we have such phenomenal public figures in your two sons and we adore both your sons and we just pray that we can you have four million other kids lucky we are that you raised me too I was raised I was the only Jewish kid in my whole little my schools and so forth and I had a lot of friends who went to Catholic schools and I was scared to death of a nun do you think I would think of a nun and then meet a sister of your elder so wonderful and I have unfortunately been in the middle of too many conversations built by people and every time someone comes up with these comments I have an over or your white comment we I'm going to quickly tell you one story because it has such an impact we go to the Chautauqua institution every summer and Mohammed who's last name is two different cultures out of non-English and my next life language but anyway he is head of the institution England and he came from London Toronto and came down through the Buffalo immigration and they would not let him come through immigration for eight hours he had this is in 2005 he had a letter from Chautauqua institution validating that he was going to be speaking there two days later and they for eight hours he was held up and not allowed in and we heard that he asked if he could go to the bathroom and they said no and he ended up when he was healthy it was beyond four so on some of the next day I adore this man we did say when I just really loved that I can't believe what you got to go through and weren't you just furious with these immigration officials and this is the best of Mohammed I have been speaking from what is that he said then how could I be angry with him I was so sad that the system had turned them into such angry people themselves and to me he was embodying the best of his religion the best of human being he was a general I would have been I was furious and to me that is such the best and it's to stop because it's a perfect example of compassion so one of the things this is one of our compassion events we're working on compassion and we always read the charter together if you don't have a postcard large postcard shape raise your hand and make sure you give one because in the front of it it has the charter for compassion and we always read this kind of in a back and forth style and so while some people are reading from here I want to invite our laureate circle to be the print in black and then if the rest of the conversation would join in getting with them in the pink I think it's pink and so while Rosalind you might want to grab a mic and leave the center and I'll leave the outer portion if that will work and then I believe I will install this mental essence on your way the principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions calling us always to treat all others we wish to be treated ourselves but compassion it helps us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow preachers to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being treating everybody with a lot of exception with absolute justice liberty and respect it is also necessary in our local public and thrive in life to remain consistently and impalantly from conflicting pain to act or speak violently on a slight chauvinism or selfishness to a horoscope explored for denied basic rights to anyone and to incite hatred to many others even our enemies is a denial of our own humanity we acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and there are some that even increase the sum of human misery in the name of religion we therefore call all men and women to restore compassion to the center of morality and religion to the ancient principle that any interpretation that brings violence hatred or disdain is religion to ensure that you are given accurate and respectful information about other religions religions and cultures to encourage a positive appreciation of the cultural and religious diversity to cultivate an informed community with the suffering of all human beings even those who are their enemies we urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our cultural rights world rooted in a principal determination to transcend selfishness compassion can break down political, pragmatic, religious, born of our deep interdependence compassion for essential to human relationships and to avail humanity it is a path to enlightenment and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful local community I'd like to share a thought that I heard many many years ago it goes like this I'm going to make a ginger sensitive I sought my God but God eluded me I sought my soul but in I could not see I sought my brother or sister and found all three thank you all for coming counted 70 tonight