Referring to the aftermath of World War II which had engulfed all of Europe, the Czech writer Milan Kundera noted: “[H]atreds withdraw to the interior of nations … the goal of the fight is no longer the future … but the past; the new European war will play out only on the battlefield of memory.” … Read more
YANGON—Nothing can better remind us of the significance of the 1986 Edsa people power uprising, whose 30th anniversary we are observing this week, than to view it in relation to what is happening today in Myanmar (Burma). By luck, I find myself in Yangon (Rangoon), its capital, where I have been attending a fascinating dialogue … Read more
Love is complex in the sense that it entails no less than the joint constitution of a world that uniquely belongs to two people in love. This is how I understand romantic love. In such a world, the loved one can be the person that s/he is, and feel affirmed on that basis, without any … Read more
Empathy, or compassion, is often the last trait we expect to find in modern society. But, that is only because we are wont to equate modernity with anonymity, depersonalization, and self-centeredness. We seldom see the flip side of these traits: i.e., the growth in society’s capacity to rise above the traditional divisions of race, nationality, … Read more