|
Theresa Gorenc
03 April 2007
“I feel like with each generation,America becomes more informed and more willing to look beyond the interests of the US. For me, this is the most important thing for our country to continue to grow and prosper.”
Theresa Gorenc traveled to Switzerland to study in the annual Caux Scholars Program in 2003. "At Caux every day, we were challenged to build bridges across racial, cultural, and religious divides," she recalls.
One of Theresa's most memorable experiences was befriending fellow Caux Scholar Abdallah Ali, a Palestinian from Gaza. "Abdallah took so much time out to explain Islam to me and cleared up a lot of things I was unsure about concerning the perception of women and how Muslims view suicide bombers and other violent acts brought on by religious fanaticism."
Theresa is now serving on the steering committee for the Caux 2004 Human Security conference, where she plans to build on the foundations set last year at Caux. She currently works with the Economist Group at Roll Call Newspaper.
Bridge building is important, Theresa says, because "our society loves to categorize! In Washington, DC, I notice it a lot around partisanship in politics, but it extends so much farther into race, culture, ethnicity, age, sexual
orientation, etc. By categorizing, we can assume a lot without having to know someone, which can make us very apathetic when others are reaching
out for help. By getting down to the individual level, we can dispel these categories."
|
printable version