The discussion following my post about the community with the drugs problem has produced some amazing responses. In order to keep the space open, I have set up a page in the Open Space Wiki. Feel free to contribute both here or there.
Fifteen years ago, sitting in my living room listening to the CBC broadcasting live as the Tiananmen Square protests were quashed. This remains one of the most powerful images of living in truth ever produced.
I am currently working with a small community which is having a serious problem with drugs among their youth. In a meeting with community leaders the same solutions came forward, most notably that the police need to enforce laws better (they don’t), the local government needs to do more (it won’t) and the dealers need to be run out of town (but no one will do it). I suggested that, in the face of the evidence, none of these solutions are the magic bullet. So far none of what NEEDS to happen is actually happening. So what is the answer? …
My friend Thomas Hermann in Sweden combined two of my greatest passions…Open Space Technology and ice hockey.
From the most excellent pssst…: After winning several archery contests, the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull’s eye on his first try, and then split that arrow with his second shot. “There,” he said to the old man, “see if you can match that!” Undisturbed, the master did not draw his bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain. Curious about the old fellow’s intentions, the champion followed him …