This editorial brings to you, dear reader, some stories and reflections from the rich discussions that took place at our autumn Board of Foundation meeting in Moscow, Russia, from 3-4 November 2017.
“Globethics.net is really a very good name”, stated Walter Linsi, our Board member from Switzerland, in his opening reflection. In the large field of ethics, Globethics.net is like David, who, with his slingshot and a small stone, brought down the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Mr. Linsi saw Globethics.net as an organisation that can be most effective when tackling particular problems by doing what we are best at.
Our President Christoph Stückelberger, at the beginning of the second day, recalled the meeting that Globethics.net organised in 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya, on the topic ‘Care and Compassion: Sharing Values Across Cultures and Religion’. There, the hypothesis was proven that compassion is a value and that we cannot live alone.
He told Board members of his experience of being present at the birth of a foal and his astonishment that after only one hour of struggle and falling against the flanks of its mother, the foal was ready to walk and then to run alongside her. He compared the foal with a human child that takes a year to stand, let alone to run. The survival of humans depends on caring and working together. When we are in a difficult situation, we are together, and we depend upon one another. Recognising that we need help is a first step in being open to working together.
Dr. Stückelberger, remarking on the hospitality, gifts, and music that had been given and shared by Dr. Ageev and his team, reminded Board members that Globethics.net has in its network not only intellectual resources, but also artistic and cultural resources; often it is the non-verbal expressions of ethics that have the most power to touch the heart.
Comments on current trends and solutions spoken about by our international Board members included; the need for a global ethics and for common values that can be learnt from; the need to develop the consciousness of people; the possibility to offer guidance to those who are lost, empowering them to be actors for change in their own lives; the call to address polarisation in society and to challenge the loss of identity by providing spaces for dialogue so that perceptions change and discrimination is diminished; the importance of investing in young people as the key social force for the future. Ethics was seen as something that brings people together, as a cause like no other.
The challenges are great, but Globethics.net is the grain of salt that adds taste and preserves goodness.
