Half of us in room had no idea what he was talking about, and sad thing is I don’t know whether he knew that (which would be bad) or didn’t (which was worse).

2 minutes later, most ‘fierce conversations’ member in out-group said, “Oh, you mean we shot down one of our own guys? That’s really stupid.”

Someone else added, “And tragic.”

SWEEPING ASSUMPTIONS

I hope more discriminating out there will understand that some of us despair at our own military with their reprehensible euphemisms such as calling killing children "collateral damage."

The US military is a sub-culture within a larger culture.

THE COMMON GROUND

The letter continues: “The day statue of Saddam was torn down, great divide between America and rest of world was briefly suspended.”

There is common ground.

MULTICULTURISM

Multiculturism demands that we use our empathy and intuition (emotional intelligence competencies) to understand other point of view, that we seek common ground, and also that we understand there are many cultures within any given culture.

I had a conversation with a client in Australia other day who eventually blurted out in frustration, “We hate American buzz over here. The hype. It’s too pushy.”

Did she assume I didn’t?

And should I assume she speaks for all Australians?

And should I assume she hates Americans (including me) because she hates "American buzz?"

Yes, she assumed I didn’t, while in actuality I dislike it myself. No, I do not assume she speaks for all Australians. I don’t look at things that way. Nor do I make grand and erroneous sweep to assume she hates Americans (and therefore me) because she hates something that some Americans do.

Check out your assumptions and challenge those of other. Look for common ground. Treat people as unique individuals. Brush up on your global EQ. The world is shrinking and we need to learn how to get along.

It seems as though national credit debt is only tip of iceberg that is owed. We can't even be certain that our generational blood sacrifices have done anything to level balances. In fact, things may be worse because we have demanded heavier blood taxes on others than we have been willing to pay ourselves. We certainly know this blood letting has contributed much to credit debt. The U.S. sacrifice to Moloch certainly tilts karmic balances in wrong direction.

The bad news is that we, you and me, are ultimately responsible for everything done in our name since Europeans began settling in North America. Iraq is just latest debt. Think about this for a few minutes and you should be overwhelmed about your fair share. There are bankruptcy remedies. As Deepak Chopra declares in Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, in Law of Karma, we have options. The first of three is shut up and pay up. Take our lumps until balance tips in our favor. This is attractive to no one who considers what may be owed by now. The next option is transformation of karma. This balances scales by becoming a blessing to others.

Many of us agree this option is much better than first. We can become this blessing individually and by joining our efforts to organizations that clearly are blessing others or have a good plan of intention to do so. Charities, peace groups, social justice associations, environmentalists. The drawback is best intentions coupled with near universal ignorance, often turn out worse than dedicated evil doing. To transform karma, we had better see outcome from intent. Mistakes can further imbalance scales.

The third option is karmic transcendence. We become so unified with God or life force, karmic ledger is expunged of our debt. My guess is that this would require some critical mass as a percentage of U.S. population, seeking spiritual unity or ultimate one party political ideal. This option is most attractive. It is actually easiest of all to do, which conforms to Law of Least Effort. The drawback is reaching that critical mass and there are presently people working hard to achieve this very transcendence. In meantime, we will take our lumps, accept our punishments, knowing we are worthy of them, which is some comfort. We will transform a lot of our karma by actually doing good we intend. In just over twenty years, we will transcend all our remaining karma. Those twenty years will not be easy or pretty, but don't you feel better about what used to be our overwhelming debts?

Bedinghamstudio.com/view edhowes@hotmail.com