I was fortunate to attend a Town Hall meeting last week where former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright spoke. Her subject was also the title of her new book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership.
Madame Secretary described her new book as a handbook for the President-elect. Her book is a handbook on the immediate critical issues both international as well as domestic that will face the new President the moment he or she takes the oath of office. This book she affectionately said was to be read on the night of the election.
Madame Secretary spoke for about twenty minutes about the contents of her book and her experiences in some of these areas; then she entertained questions from the audience. One of the main thoughts that I took away from her talk was that the democracy we practice in the United States cannot be practiced by other democratic countries around the world in the same ways. This is due in part to the diversity of cultures and religions that are practiced world wide. There is no one way to practice democracy and we as a country need to honor the way other countries practice democracy.
She addressed the concept of religion in leadership. She felt that we need to develop an understanding of the Muslim religion to have a better understanding of the people and nations that practice this religion. This is a must in the quest for a more peaceful world.
She was asked about how climate change affects the countries in the world. She stated she felt that climate change would have a great affect on world peace. We must become proactive with all countries and work together to improve our planet. She even referred to the Conference on Climate Change that some of us attended at the United Nations last September.
I left the Town Hall thinking that if we had more people as concerned about world peace as Madeline Albright the world would be in a much better state. Her comments and thoughts made me realize how important the work of our PPSEAWA organization is and the possibilities we can accomplish towards building a world of peace.
Best wishes to you all for a peaceful 2008.