full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Elizabeth Lesser: Take "the Other" to lunch

Unscramble the Blue Letters


We agreed we'd speak up in our own cumnietioms when we wneeistsd the kind of "otherizing" talk that can wound and fester into paranoia and then be used by those on the fringes to incite. By the end of our lunch, we acknowledged each other's openness. Neither of us had tried to change the other, but we also hadn't pernedetd that our differences were just going to melt away after a lunch. Instead, we had taken first steps together, past our knee-jerk reactions to the ubuntu place, which is the only place where solutions to our most intractable-seeming plreboms will be found.

So who should you invite to lunch? Next time you catch yourself in the act of onizhtireg, that'll be your clue. And what might happen at your lunch? Will the heavens open and "We are the World" play over the restaurant sound system? Probably not. Because ubtnuu work is slow, and it's difficult. It's two people dropping the pretense of being know-it-alls. It's two ppeole, two wrorrias, dropping their weapons and reaching toward each other. Here's how the great Persian poet Rumi put it: "Out beyond iaeds of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."

Open Cloze


We agreed we'd speak up in our own ___________ when we _________ the kind of "otherizing" talk that can wound and fester into paranoia and then be used by those on the fringes to incite. By the end of our lunch, we acknowledged each other's openness. Neither of us had tried to change the other, but we also hadn't _________ that our differences were just going to melt away after a lunch. Instead, we had taken first steps together, past our knee-jerk reactions to the ubuntu place, which is the only place where solutions to our most intractable-seeming ________ will be found.

So who should you invite to lunch? Next time you catch yourself in the act of __________, that'll be your clue. And what might happen at your lunch? Will the heavens open and "We are the World" play over the restaurant sound system? Probably not. Because ______ work is slow, and it's difficult. It's two people dropping the pretense of being know-it-alls. It's two ______, two ________, dropping their weapons and reaching toward each other. Here's how the great Persian poet Rumi put it: "Out beyond _____ of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."

Solution


  1. people
  2. problems
  3. ideas
  4. witnessed
  5. otherizing
  6. communities
  7. pretended
  8. ubuntu
  9. warriors

Original Text


We agreed we'd speak up in our own communities when we witnessed the kind of "otherizing" talk that can wound and fester into paranoia and then be used by those on the fringes to incite. By the end of our lunch, we acknowledged each other's openness. Neither of us had tried to change the other, but we also hadn't pretended that our differences were just going to melt away after a lunch. Instead, we had taken first steps together, past our knee-jerk reactions to the ubuntu place, which is the only place where solutions to our most intractable-seeming problems will be found.

So who should you invite to lunch? Next time you catch yourself in the act of otherizing, that'll be your clue. And what might happen at your lunch? Will the heavens open and "We are the World" play over the restaurant sound system? Probably not. Because ubuntu work is slow, and it's difficult. It's two people dropping the pretense of being know-it-alls. It's two people, two warriors, dropping their weapons and reaching toward each other. Here's how the great Persian poet Rumi put it: "Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
tea party 2


Important Words


  1. acknowledged
  2. act
  3. agreed
  4. catch
  5. change
  6. clue
  7. communities
  8. differences
  9. difficult
  10. dropping
  11. fester
  12. field
  13. fringes
  14. great
  15. happen
  16. heavens
  17. ideas
  18. incite
  19. invite
  20. kind
  21. lunch
  22. meet
  23. melt
  24. open
  25. openness
  26. otherizing
  27. paranoia
  28. people
  29. persian
  30. place
  31. play
  32. poet
  33. pretended
  34. pretense
  35. problems
  36. put
  37. reaching
  38. reactions
  39. restaurant
  40. rumi
  41. slow
  42. solutions
  43. sound
  44. speak
  45. steps
  46. system
  47. talk
  48. time
  49. ubuntu
  50. warriors
  51. weapons
  52. witnessed
  53. work
  54. wound