I Have Lost My Voice

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I have lost my voice

This week has been so brutally difficult that I am struggling to find my own voice. I am scared. I am sad. I am confused. I am trying really hard to center myself, find my natural place of optimism and belief, and simply put one foot in front of the other towards a better tomorrow. But I must confess that I find the task at hand more challenging this minute than ever before. 

Rather than trying to write yet another post, I will today share a few things that I hope you will read or listen to. In totality, they gave me both better clarity and possibly a nudge in the right direction. I am hopeful you will feel the same way.  

After this week I will pause this newsletter for the time being, as I am not sure more posts and more words on what is going on right now is that helpful. And honestly, I struggle to write about other important ideas and topics at this difficult time. I feel consumed by it; I can't shake the feeling that writing about other things seems like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. I will for sure be back when I have found messages and ideas that feel authentic to me—and therefore hopeful and helpful to you. I desperately want to find a way to be of service to a more human world. 

What is on display right now is a demonstration of our worst human qualities. We need a big human bear hug and we must find ways to stop these incessant, evil, and hateful behaviors. And I have lost some of my previously-held belief that words, posts, protests, and rhetoric are all that helpful. They might just function like fuel on the underlying fires deep inside too many right now. It is better to break bread with strangers, send support to people in need, and just demonstrate the kind of humanity we all so desperately are in need of. 

Here are a few things that inspired, moved, and clarified things for me this week.

First off, Konstantine Kisin gave a great talk that I found inspiring; it actually helped me find some form of optimism and light in the midst of this darkness. 

Here is one optimistic quote from his speech:

"We need a positive message: from the dawn of time, human beings have had to work to make the world a better place. We captured the mystery of fire, we invented the wheel, today we build buildings that would shock and awe almost every single human being that has ever lived. We split the atom, we spliced the genome and we connected the world through a microcomputer that fits in your pocket that lets us do amazing things:"

But he also was not ignorant or tone deaf to the real grievances many, particularly our youth, have with the world they experience.

He shared this:

"And finally, I say to our friends in politics, many of you here are conservatives. I am not, I look terrible in tweed. That’s why I identify as politically non-binary. But I can tell you conservatives something: you will never get young people to want to conserve a society and an economy that isn’t working for them. We will not overcome woke nihilism as long as young people are locked out of the housing market, unable to pair up, unable to have children, and unable to plan for the future."

Second, if you really want to understand why the war in the Middle East is NOT about Palestinians and Jews (which it clearly isn’t), please listen to this podcast interview with Bari Weiss and Walter Russell Mead. Or, read Walter's opinion piece in the WSJ about why antisemitism is always an early warning sign that humanity is in crisis. It lays it all out. This is about a war between what we believe in and what we don’t. I am not suggesting that it makes the solutions set much easier, nor am I saying that WE (Western democracies) are free from guilt, or that we have not in many ways contributed to the problems we face, but I think you will find the interview clarifying. I did. Please listen and read. 

Here is one quote from his WSJ piece:

"Jew hatred is both a disabling mental virus and a social blight. Societies dominated by irrational hatreds and conspiracy theories are rarely well-governed. Where Jews are hunted in the streets, no one’s liberty or property will long be secure."

Third, I thought this statement from Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior, and Foreign Affairs Committee of the UAE Federal National Council, was exactly pitch perfect and what I needed to hear.

”We want everyone to acknowledge and accept that Israel is there to exist and that the roots of Jews, Christian are not in New York or Paris but here in our region. They are part of our history and they should be part of our future’’. 

Fourth, as you know the voice of David Brooks most often resonates deeply with me. He wrote a NYT piece this week about "How To Stay Sane In Brutalizing Times" which is, of course, relevant to the theme of this post. His latest book "How to Know a Person" is fantastic, and so is this interview with Andrew Sullivan and this one with Yascha Mounk, which discuss the central ideas in his recent book.  If you want a "teaser", you can also watch this short interview on PBS. Hopefully, you will want more—I find it very relevant to what humanity is going through right now and rooted in the kind of human optimism that we all need to recommit ourselves to. 
 
Fifth, a sad AND beautiful example that this rampant and out-of-control hatred is hitting innocent people here at home hard but also that the response from the people afflicted can sometimes help us discover the other extreme on the moral spectrum. My friend Robyn is an amazing entrepreneur and founder of Smitten Ice Cream. One of her stores was vandalized simply because she is Jewish. There is nothing political about Robyn (or Smitten). And if anything, they are a role model of what a small growing business is all about. Smitten represents a passion for its mission, served by a diverse workforce, with a strong commitment to its community. Hurt her and you hurt us all. Read her statement here. This is the response we all need to echo. I love her re-dedication to her mission. "In the spirit of ice cream, we choose love." Amen!
 
Lastly, to end with one of the most inspiring talks I saw all week. This from the Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of Germany who unequivocally and with moral clarity and human compassion said what I had hoped more leaders would say given what is going on.

I will stop there. We simply have to keep surrounding ourselves with real evidence of truth. Not fake news; not soundbites; not clickbait. Our sense of truth has been hijacked by evil forces. Or, at last massively confused and distorted. This state of affairs has been exponentially amplified by social media that never shuts up and has algorithms motivated by more sensation not more truth.

The truth is that most Arab nations, including most Palestinians, of course, and all other people in the world, want to live in peace with each other. The vast majority of human beings clearly love their children more than they hate others. Let us never lose faith in that. As the Swedish poet and musician, Thomas Di Leva, once stated so beautifully: "There is only one race. The human race. There is only one religion. Love."
 
We can’t let any other fact distort that basic truth.
 
And the best way to find it is to meet and be with people in real life. Not on the internet or on social media.
So, you might not hear from me here for a while. As usual, if you have comments or suggestions please reach out. You know where to find me. I will share occasional pieces on X or on LinkedIn, if you want to check in there. Please also follow and join the movement at STARTSWITHUS, where you can find more inspiration on how we all can contribute to depolarizing and humanizing the world.

I will spend the extra time looking for love. Trying to figure out how my fears and concerns for a very troubled world can be best put to work in a more positive and helpful way. I am simply not sure what that is right now and promise I will report back when I think I have found something. 

As my friend Dov Seidman, always reminds us: "When you press the pause button on a machine, it stops. But when you press the pause button on human beings, they start".  So I am looking at this not as the end of anything but hopefully, upon deeper reflection, the start of a new journey. 

Meanwhile, let's do what we can. Be the change we seek in the world. 
 
Thank you for your tremendous support.