Syria, wishes of peace and community as third party

[Nathalie Legros]

Yesterday, in the train, on my way from Brussels to Amsterdam,

I met 3 traveller coming from Dubai;

originally they are from Syria;

we had a long conversation;

they talked about their beloved country; about the thousands of people dying or escaping, family members or friends; about their beautiful villages and cities destroyed; about the culture of tolerance and co-existence of religious traditions; about simplicity and aspiration to live a good life;

'what can I do?' was my question to them;

we found out that 'telling their story' was something they could do, and that repeating their story was something I could do...

In the first minutes of his inspiring talk, William Ury tells the middle east story of a father leaving 17 camels to his 3 sons: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_ury#t-750964; he shows that in conflicts transformation, the role of 'community' as a third party may be determinant;

Acting to transform conflicts can be as simple as witnessing, listening, telling a story, showing empathy or building a bridge... We can do it individually or collectively, as a community. I wonder how the Constellation could help moving in that direction...

I would love to read your thoughts, ideas or experience.

As Ury says: 'because the task of creating a genuine co-culture may take a generation or more, there is no better time to begin than now'