Building the global community.The late British comedian and broadcaster Harry Secombe Sir Harry Donald Secombe, CBE (8 September 1921–11 April 2001) was a Welsh entertainer with a noted fine tenor singing voice and a talent for comedy. Born at St. achieved a hit with the song, 'If I ruled the world': If I ruled the world, ev'ry man would be as free as a bird, Ev'ry voice would be a voice to be heard ... If only it were that simple! There are plenty of well intentioned heads of government, and any number of enlightened statutes. But creating the perfect world cannot he imposed from on top. It depends not just on a few men and women but on all of us. Society needs the right frameworks in which to flourish-and the evidence suggests that people perform to their best when they are not too tightly regulated--but a good framework is not a sufficient condition for success. Human nature is always the joker in the pack. As William Golding Noun 1. William Golding - English novelist (1911-1993) Golding, Sir William Gerald Golding illustrated in his novel, Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies showing man’s consciousness and fear of dying. [Br. Lit.: Lord of the Flies] See : Death , if you put a bunch of 'innocent' children into idyllic i·dyl·lic adj. 1. Of or having the nature of an idyll. 2. Simple and carefree: an idyllic vacation in a seashore cottage. surroundings they are more than capable of creating murder and mayhem mayhem (mā`hĕm, mā`əm), in common law, the crime of willfully injuring a person so as to diminish his or her capacity for self-defense. . Conversely, as epitomized by Mother Teresa, Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (oung sän s  chē), 1945–, Burmese political leader. and a host of others, the greatest triumphs of the human spirit are often revealed amidst oppression, degradation and suffering. Mountain House, the Initiatives of Change conference centre in Caux, near Montreux, Switzerland, stands for the belief that the good society will only be built as we recognize our need as individual human beings to choose between good and evil. We can decide to live in ways that are relevant to a world that is tired of division and greed, that yearns for reconciliation and justice. What is more, as we make personal decisions on a basis of 'what is right', we can attune at·tune tr.v. at·tuned, at·tun·ing, at·tunes 1. To bring into a harmonious or responsive relationship: an industry that is not attuned to market demands. 2. ourselves to the higher wisdom that the Creator makes available to anyone who humbly seeks it. In this issue of For A Change we report many of the stories of hope that emerged during this summer's conferences in Caux. The theme was 'From conflict to community in the global home', and many of those taking part had practical experience of building community by applying IC's challenging yet simple precepts. None of us can 'rule the world' but we can make a decision to serve it, and to equip ourselves to do so to our maximum potential. |
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