John Wood, Jr. delivers the keynote speech on day one of the Weave the Social Fabric Project conference, on race and the power of love as a social value to transcend our divides.
I stopped talking to my dad because we voted differently
03/15/2025 No Comments
The more I was able to productively disagree with people, the more I realized that I didn’t need them to agree with me in order for me to be okay. I found strength and peace in myself that left me feeling more empowered, even when the world felt scary and out of control.
3 thoughts on “John Wood, Jr. speaks at the Aspen Institute’s #WeaveThePeople 2019”
While I agree in general with the thrust of John’s assertion – Love is where it’s at (excuse my paraphrasing), it will not yield to the sometimes quoted saying, “fake it until you make it”. My belief is that our love, in general, is smothered by our fear.
So, if you accept what I have said so far, then our first task should be, figure out how to reduce/eliminate our fear. In our relationships with others, a good first step is to get to know them better, thereby reducing the sense of “other”. I would also argue that obtaining a better understanding of how fear is generated – in ALL of us – that this would take us a long way toward reducing that fear and enabling us to demonstrate and exemplify the LOVE John is talking about.
John, this was excellent. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself in your discussion. I pray that the Spirit that was with you will be with me as I preach this Sunday on a message that could be polarizing if not listened to with love.
Thank you brother. It means a lot. And I know the Spirit is with you.