“We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
– US President Barack Obama, Cairo 2009
Like many people around the world, I was inspired by President Obama’s landmark speech in Cairo, Egypt. That speech marked the beginning of a long-overdue dialogue between the United States and the people of the Arab and Muslim world, based on mutual respect and shared values.
But while the US government was the catalyst for this new spirit of goodwill, it is in no way the sole means to make it a reality. Indeed, I have long believed that the private sector–the spheres of everyday life such as culture, education, sports, etc–has the power to inspire a new level of trust and understanding beyond that of governments. With the Open Hands Initiative, I am putting my inspiration into action.
Open Hands is not an aid organization, nor is it an organization that aims to extol the virtues of US values. Those are one way streets. Rather, in all of our activities we seek to understand the communities in which we enter, and help them understand us. We emphasize mutual respect and dialogue. We believe that each and every country has much to teach and learn from one another. We take what is best about our societies and share them. In so doing, we enrich each other, deepen our interdependence and respect, and build a reservoir of goodwill that can withstand even the most fundamental policy differences.
As Open Hands begins launching its activities in 2010, we look forward to sharing with you more about our experiences and on-the-ground results in our endeavors.
We encourage any and all comments, contributions, and feedback from you.
It is only through dialogue and understanding with you and others can we work to improve the world around us, together.
2 replies on “Extending Our Hands”
This is a very exciting and important initiative. I’m looking forward to lending an open hand, and would like to request an official Open Hands twitter profile and Facebook page so that I can share this with friends and connect more participants! Cheers 🙂
Dear Nirvan,
Many thanks for your excitement in the Open Hands Initiative and for your participation in the upcoming launch of our programs in Syria. We believe connecting our countries on a people-to-people level to share in dialogues on the issues that transcend national boundaries is of the utmost importance to healthy and positive global relationships. To that end, we are currently preparing to launch some exciting social networking features that will help further these dialogue and discussions. We look forward to sharing these with you in the very near future.
Kind Regards,
Meredith Dewitt,
Open Hands Initiative