When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see. It's not easy to become (more of) a scout, but it's hard not to be inspired by this book' Rutger Bregman 'Original, thought-provoking and a joy to read' Tim Harford You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to of best smart thinking book 2022 (Business Book Awards) If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.īut you know what? We change lives. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.” My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. “Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get OutĪbout a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: “Shocking and provoking people – no matter how impolite the words or actions might seem – is necessary to wake the majority of people from their moral slumber.” Describing the project of civic radicalism, he articulates a moral justification for taking disruptive action. Zamalin describes what has been a discourse of civility that has ignored the idea of mutual respect and concern for the well-being of others. So too is recognizing when “civil” or superficial discourse gets in the way of seeing and dealing with society’s problems.įrom a perspective he labels “civic radicalism,” Alex Zamalin builds a historical case against recurring calls for “civility.” Even before the Civil War, politicians invoked “civility” to champion social stability and condemn those fighting slavery and racism. How do you approach conversations with people who don’t think the way you do? Seeking common ground is a mark of respect. For Antakya, there are signs – the Christian priest sitting outside the rubble of his church, the Muslim imam who returned home after fleeing, and the Jewish refugee who longs to do the same.Says the imam: We will start again “as if we are newly born.” In Nepal, hit in 2015, the Japan International Cooperation Agency trained “mobile masons,” who spread around the country, speeding the recovery. The common thread is the power of community – of residents finding strength and neighbors near and far aroused to kindness. Civil society was “massively mobilized,” a World Bank report said.In Christchurch, New Zealand, hit in 2011, earthquake recovery efforts became a transformative force, reshaping everything from parks to recycling efforts. The need is not just to “build back better” but to “build back unbroken” – to restore the city’s unique soul.Several communities struck by earthquakes in recent years offer lessons. In Sichuan province, hit in 2008, the Chinese central government paired each affected county with an unaffected province. Historically, Antakya has embraced Muslim, Jew, and Christian – a relative haven amid the storm of sectarian strife. But after February’s devastating earthquake, the question is: Will it be the same Antakya? In today’s Daily, Sara Miller Llana and Melanie Stetson Freeman depict a town on the cusp of change, even before the earthquake. It is the home of saints and Silk Road traders, martyrs and emperors.But no one knows the story of what will happen now. Antakya has survived wars and disasters for 2,300 years.
The story of Antakya, Turkey, is told in the holy texts of the three Abrahamic faiths – the story of a city that was founded as Antioch by one of Alexander the Great’s generals and that became a crossroads of the ancient world.
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