Finding our Peace

Last week a bomb exploded 1.5 miles from one of the Acumen Fund Fellows in Lahore, rioting caused the city of Hyderabad (the location of the Acumen office in India) to shut down, and I listened to President Obama as he spoke to us about the rationale for just war while he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

With events like these it is easy to ask yourself, in a world filled with poverty, violence, and injustice how do we find our moral compass? How do we remind ourselves to seek out the solutions, find the beauty, and continue to fight for what we believe in? How do we find connection in a world that is trying to separate us?

Last week, I sat at a dinner surrounded by passionate, humble, Pakistani American's in a room filled with the radiant beauty of women in red, pink, and yellow sari's. I listened to Secretary Hilary Clinton as she shared her views on the power of uniting our two nations. Last week a former Acumen Fund Fellow Ram Hariharan, now COO at Bridge International Academies in Kenya received $1.8M from Omidyar network. Last week, I discussed Nelson Mandela's vision of leadership with the Acumen Fund Staff, and I listened as President Obama shared his vision of peace with the world.

Yes, the world is complex, and last week I was reminded that it is the responsibility of leaders to show us there is always more beauty than violence in the world if we just listen.