I’m sorry to hear about your dad. He seems to have been a special man, who loved the best things in life. He probably loved his family most of all, but felt compelled, in the name of honor, to go to war. And your husband is right to stay by your side, because you and your family is what is most important for him.

I am not an advocate for war. In fact, Selling a Vision of Hope is a way of containing war and keeping it to a minimum. The war that lies ahead will be won in the heart and the mind of the man on the street, and not on the battlefield. Most of the “fighting” will be for the sake of winning hearts and minds. The actual military type fighting will only be a last resort, when there is no other alternative. The extremists may push us to that point as they see their popular support dwindling, as people begin to imagine the possiblity of hope.

If it would be possible to Sell a Vision of Hope without any blood shed, I would be the first to support that. I don’t want any more daughters to lose their dads. But your dad left, as part of his legacy, the idea that sometimes we have no choice but to fight for what we believe. We just have to inspire people with enough hope, so that there will not be any question in their minds, as to what they are fighting for.

I can agree with a lot of what M. Shneerson has to say. In fact, I can agree to a lot of what a lot of people have to say, because I recognize the overwhelming presence of common sense in the human condition.

Shneerson is saying that you confront evil by opting for and emphasizing the good in people. In that way, he believes that the good will supersede the evil. To a great extent, I can buy that. In fact, confronting the extremists militarily, which I think will be necessary, is still a relatively minor aspect of Selling a Vision of Hope.

I do believe that you can confront evil by emphasizing the good, and “selling” it to the man on the street. I think the good is a better sell than evil, because it makes more sense.

So, for example, if the extremists believe in a violent ideology of Jihad; we will counter with An Ideology of Common Sense.

If the extremists invest in charitable handouts; we will invest in jobs.

If the extremists sell a vision of hope for paradise, or martyrdom, or 72 virgins, or what have you; we will sell a Vision of Hope- a Vision of Peace, Prosperity, and Freedom.

At every turn we will cut them off at the pass, and present a vision that beats them at their owns game, a vision co-opts their strategy, and which marginalizes them in the eyes of their own people, by showing that their ideas don’t hold up. We will, as Shneerson suggests, defeat evil by emphasizing the good, and showing that the good can and does have a basis in reality.

But Elinor, with all this, we will probably have to fight as well. I wish that weren’t the case. The extremists are strongly committed to their cause, and are emboldened by ideological conviction. They actually believe that God is talking to them, even though to my mind, they are hard of hearing. So if they continue with their campaign of terror, we will have no choice but to confront them militarily, but again we will emphasize the good by positioning that fight within a Vision of Hope. That is what is missing now in U.S. policy. We talk about freedom, but we haven’t as yet put in the ideological, economic, and diplomatic foundations on the ground, which would give substance to a true vision of freedom. We’ve talked the talk, but have failed, as yet, to walk the walk. It is time to match our lofty words with deeds on the ground which give substance to those words.

Accordingly I consider fundamentalism as an outcome of dissonance, and fighting it will increase it, make it worse, but emphasizing on good would gradually braing back the balance and then fundamentalism will step back, dissapear, as well as many other projections of inequity.

I admire the fact that you seem to carry the weight of other people’s suffering on your shoulders. That can be a gift if the weight of it does not overwhelm you.

I also detect a sense of frustration in your words. You are right to say that “…we all need a normal life.” But most of what we do, and a great deal of what we believe seem to negate the possibility of normalcy. Does it ever seem to you that a lot of what we believe, and a lot of what we do in pursuit of those beliefs, just don’t make any sense?

I can relate when you say, “I need a vision that supports my hopes.” Me too. And as you know, I have come to the belief that Selling a Vision of Hope is the way to go. And you are right to say that my website is not enough. More has to happen for the vision to have any substance in reality.

So far, in addition to my website, I wrote and published a book Selling a Vision of Hope: A Refreshing Alternative to Armageddon. My game plan is a two step approach: first spread the word and then implement. So I talk about it every chance I get, including this forum. Last week I spoke to the head of a major think tank in Washington D.C. I thought I would get kicked out in five minutes. But actually the kind gentleman listened intently for two hours and took notes on everything I had to say. He said we may be able to work together to sell and implement a Vision of Hope. I’ve also contacted some of the presidential campaigns to see if there is any interest there. We’ll see.

But I am one person, Elinor. I need your help, and I like your approach, “…we need to develop this vision, expand it, refine it, and support it…” I’m open to all of that. I need equal partners to make something happen. The vision is not about me. I didn’t create the vision. The vision came and grabbed hold of me.

Let me suggest a possible scenario of how we can actually work together to sell and implement a Vision of Hope: Elinor e-mails her friends about the vision. One of them is somewhat interested. She has a rich uncle who wants to leave behind a legacy that could make a difference in the world. He decides to fund some sort of project on the ground that creates jobs. He lets us use the project as part of a PR campaign to prove that a Vision of Hope could be made real if people choose to make it so. His willingness to help attracts the attention of other business people. Pretty soon a bunch of projects get going which create jobs and which protect the environment. This grass roots effort attracts the attention of policy makers in government. They translate it into foreign policy. An international fund is established for economic development in the Middle East. Economists and business leaders are hired to manage and grow the fund. More projects are funded, more jobs are created, and more of the environment is protected. People around the world begin to buy into a Vision of Hope. All sorts of Public Diplomacy Programs, like empowering women, and student exchanges, etc., are launched in a bid to sustain the hope. And when we have to, we confront the extremists, but only within the larger context of Selling a Vision of Hope. They become marginalized in the eyes of their own people, becasue now there’s a choice on the table.

That’s one possible scenario, Elinor, and it all started with your e-mails. Or maybe you have another idea. Believe me, I’m open. This is a long shot. I know. But considering the alternative; what choice do we really have? If we are really serious about peace, I think we have no choice but to try.

I think we are children as well…. true..
I have so much hope and faith in the peace process, and any time I hear dramatic news from either side of the conflict my heart aches and my eyes burn. I have to answer all the ones who have no faith in the peave, because I so enthosiactically talk about peace… I take the blame myself, the blame of all what is happening in the region and is wrong, as if I have dome all of that myself. I don’t want the rockets, the atomic ambitions, the rataliations and the suicide seeking attitude, I don’t want students being tortured to death some where in this region… then the claim that the student committed suicide…
I just can’t believe why suddenly every thing turns back to normal, I believe we all need a normal life and we are all frustrated with a life full of adventure, not an inspiring one…
Could we just one night sleep and wake upin the morning to a world we dream of ?
Nissim, I need a vision that supports my hopes… I am not saying you can provide that because you have a website, we need to develop this vision, expand it, refine it and support it….

But in a way, we are all children. No? As the Israeli artist pointed out, there is a potential for innocence in all of us. We just have to find a way to tap into that sense, and to make it real.

Each of us has the potential for good or evil. We can swing either way. We need to tip the balance in favor of what is good, in favor of what makes sense. A lot of the so called insurmountable problems can be solved if we try to find the child that is within each and everyone of us.

My plan will take several generations to pull off, and probably one trillion dollars of investment. I think that my plan is probably as close to impossible as you can get. But given the alternative, what choice do we really have?

All you are saying is that it will be hard as hell. I agree. But it’s precisely in hell that we find ourselves. At a certain point in time, it will take some serious fighting on the ground. What we need to do is to create enough facts on the ground, and to underpin those facts with an ideological framework, so that a man or woman on the street comes to believe that this is something worth dying for. Because in the final analysis, yes, you will have to fight the extremists on all sides, because that’s the only language they understand. The trick will be to empower people for the fight that lies ahead. You can only do that by speaking to them with common sense and with a sense of personal dignity, investing in them, inspiring them with a Vision of Hope, sustaining the hope, and empowering them to fight, not a war against terror, but a war to win the peace,a war to realize a Vision of Hope on the ground.

I am ever mindful of the enormity of the challenge, and I respect you for pointing it out. But if I am right, as you suggest, we have no choice but to try.