Shared Values for a Troubled World: Conversations With Men and Women of Conscience

Kidder's book gives serious food for thought. Our world is very diverse. People come with different needs, different agendas, and different cultural backgrounds that color their understanding of others. We seem to disagree on so much and have minimal interest in working together. Kidder stresses that our world is getting smaller and to survive and grow, we, as a world need to find a common ground from which to work together. We need to find "universal truths". There is too much at stake if we don't: concerns that affect everyone, from damage to the environment to economic issues between the haves and the have nots. Without a common ground from which to talk, to trade, and to understand each other, we, as a species are bound to fail. In his book, Kidder interviews 24 highly respected people from a variety of backgrounds for their perspective on universal values. From these interviews, Kidder identified several important ingredients. The eight values that most often appeared were love, truthfulness, fairness, freedom, unity, tolearance, responsibility, and respect for life. Part of our job as community college trustees is to help our school, our administration, and our students meet the needs of a growing, changing, and ever more diverse society. How will we meet those needs? What do we need to consider? This book gives some key insights to ponder and gives me personally a much broader appreciation of "diversity". I recommend it.