José Arocha's blog

I recently watched Muhammad Yunus full of joy, sharing his story and advocating for his ideas during his Nobel Lecture of December 10, 2006, at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. I was deeply inspired and connected to his values and believe. I would like to contribute my 2 cents in promoting his lecture in this post.

Harrasment? Fear? Mistrust? Political populism? Well, the meaning has become so complex with all the distortions and prejudices created by our political affairs, social disconnectedness, and their consequential mistrust and fears, that a kiss is not a kiss anymore.  Where did we leave compassion? love? solidarity? gratefulness? human empathy?

First, I would like to express my sorrow for what you are going through. You both feel hurt. I am sorry for your families in pain. My condolences and thoughts are with you.

I have been engaged reading the stories, looking at the heart-breaking images, reading the discussions in online fora, news media and blogs. Some people justify war in the name of honor, faith or national pride and interests. I respect their position. However, in my core, I cannot justify war.

I believe that life is our utmost precious right and our source of joy. The life of a Lebanese or an Israeli girl could be the life of my children. For me, every girl counts. Every life is sacred. I cannot justify the stabbing of any single life.

In the previous times of history, signed by the lack of understanding and means of communications, many were the myths, many the misunderstandings, many the misconceptions, many the fears of the unknown. War was a human reaction to secure the life of the closest ones.

As a follow-up from Helen Wang's uplifting post "Dare to be an entrepreneur?", I believe we do not figure out what it takes to be an entrepreneur and whether we like it unless we try ourselves. Let me share some beliefs from my experience.

I reacted to the article and resonated with the last Nita Goyal's post on Brain Drain at the Digital Vision program. Let me convey my vision on the topic of the diaspora starting with three very close stories: