Articles by Dietrich Fischer

We found 494 results.


Search for Meaning…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Aug 2018

An English teacher wrote the words, “a woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and told the students to punctuate it correctly.

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In Conclusion…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Aug 2018

A biology teacher wanted to warn his students about the harmful effects of alcohol.

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A Butcher Knife
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Aug 2018

In modern warfare, those who issue orders to kill seldom see their victims face to face.

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Correction
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jul 2018

General Smith died and the local newspaper printed a eulogy.

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Numbness
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Jul 2018

If a frog is put into hot water, it jumps out. If it is put into tepid water, and the water is gradually heated, he remains in the water until he is boiled.

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Reality, Perception, Truth
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Jul 2018

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially were intrigued by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again.

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Heroism
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

An oil well caught fire.

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Status
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Jun 2018

When relations between the Soviet Union and China soured in the early 1960s, Khrushchev met Chu En Lai and told him,

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Authorship
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Jun 2018

During the German occupation of France, a German soldier entered Picasso’s studio and saw a small reproduction of his painting “Guernica”.

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For God’s Sake!
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Jun 2018

A wife invited some people to dinner.

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Lawyers
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Jun 2018

Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, an honest lawyer and an old drunk are walking down the street together when they simultaneously spot a hundred dollar bill.

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Costa Rica Prospers without a Military
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Jun 2018

While other Central American countries have long suffered from war and military coups and squandered much of their resources on the military, Costa Rica has enjoyed peace, stable democracy, and comparative prosperity. Its per capita income is double that of its Central American neighbors.

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Expert Justification
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 May 2018

A tourist’s car broke down in a small village.

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Life Management
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 28 May 2018

A professor gave a lecture on time management. He filled a mason jar with a dozen fist-sized rocks, until no more would fit. He asked his students, “Is this jar full?”

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Odds
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 May 2018

A man did not feel well and went to see his doctor.

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A Snowflake
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 May 2018

Randy Kehler, who later became national coordinator of the Nuclear Freeze movement in the United States, was drafted into the Army in the early 1970s to go fight in Vietnam. Like many others, he refused to serve and was sentenced to prison. But unlike many others, he did more than that.

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Three More…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 May 2018

An Irishman arrived late at night at a bar in Belfast and saw a big fight.

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A Warm Room
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 May 2018

As long as peace negotiators focus on the elimination of weapons, anyone with a gun or bomb can sabotage the peace process. Violence relates to an unresolved conflict like smoke to fire. To stop the smoke, it is necessary to quench the fire, not the other way round.

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A New Friendship
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 May 2018

Al was walking home from school. Suddenly he saw that the boy in front of him had fallen and dropped a large pile of books and other things that he was carrying. Al bent down and helped him pick up the scattered items.

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Opportunisms
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 May 2018

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

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Social Skill
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Apr 2018

A Swiss farmer’s son was for the first time at a ball.

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Words Can Save Lives
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Apr 2018

A group of frogs were walking through a forest. Suddenly, two of them fell into a hole. All the other frogs gathered around the hole and looked down over the edge.

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Whatever…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Apr 2018

A father told his young son, “You have gotten a little sister.”

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Let the People, Not the Politicians or Generals, Decide
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Apr 2018

The province of Schleswig had changed hands between Denmark and Prussia several times during the 19th century and was under German control before World War I.

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Not Crazy
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Apr 2018

A mental patient believed he was a mouse.

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The Whole Truth
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Apr 2018

“Seek the company of those who are searching for the truth, but avoid those who have found it.” — Vaclav Havel

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By the Way…
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Apr 2018

John Kenneth Galbraith called Reaganomics “horse and sparrow economics.”

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Framing Questions
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Apr 2018

The psychologists Amos and Tversky developed the theory of “framing” by demonstrating that people give different answers depending on how a question is asked. The following are two examples.

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Explaining to a Blind Person [Jokes to Be Taken Seriously]
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Apr 2018

Someone asked Albert Einstein at a party: “Oh, you are Albert Einstein, could you please explain me your relativity theory in three or four sentences?”

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Schooling
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Mar 2018

A young cowboy from Wyoming went off to college, but half way through the semester, he had foolishly squandered all his money. He called home.

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The End of Dueling
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 12 Mar 2018

During medieval times, it was a sign of honor and courage for men to challenge a rival to a duel by sword, typically someone who was in love with the same woman.

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Odds
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Mar 2018

A patient did not feel well and went to see his doctor. The doctor examined and told him, “I have some bad news and some good news.”

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Hot Water
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Feb 2018

If a frog is put into hot water, he jumps out. If he is put into tepid water, and the water is gradually heated, he remains in the water until he is boiled.

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Sounds Familiar… ?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 26 Feb 2018

A man is taking a walk in Central park in New York. Suddenly he sees a little girl being attacked by a pit bull dog. He runs over and starts fighting with the dog.

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Bisons and Bears
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Feb 2018

In the past, when the main danger bisons faced were predators such as bears, the best protection they had against danger was for them to form a circle, with the strong bulls on the outside and the females and young protected inside. But when hunters with guns arrived, forming a circle was the worst thing they could do. Instead of dispersing and running away, they presented a fixed, easy target and were massacred in large numbers.

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Forgetfulness
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Feb 2018

An elderly man went for his annual checkup to the doctor. After examining him, the doctor said, “I have two bad news for you. The first is that you have cancer.”

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Clever
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Feb 2018

President Bush was informed that there was a threat of a bird flu epidemic.

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Couples
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Jan 2018

A man believed his wife was hard of hearing.

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Jack
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jan 2018

A fifth grade teacher began her first day with a new class. All the students were neat and well behaved, except for Jack, a boy in the front row, who was slumped in his chair and seemed to need a bath.

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Infected
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Jan 2018

After an interval of four million years, two planets meet again in the universe.

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Cover-up
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Jan 2018

A man comes home and finds his dog with the neighbor’s pet rabbit in his mouth. It is dead.

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Oh, God!
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Dec 2017

A very good hearted young man came to the gates of heaven. He asked God, “Why have you brought me here so early? I was still in perfect health and wanted to do many more good deeds.”

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Titles
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Dec 2017

Someone who farms is a farmer.

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Put Out the Fire Before It Is Too Late
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Dec 2017

There was a man called Nicolas who was happy in life except for one thing: he and a neighbor distrusted each other. One day, his chicken strayed into the neighbor’s garden.

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Amy Biehl
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Dec 2017

Amy Biehl was a young Princeton graduate who went to Capetown, South Africa, in 1992 as a volunteer to work with an NGO to help overcome apartheid.

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Seven Men and an Elephant
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Dec 2017

Seven men were in a dark room touching an elephant. One touched his leg and said, “An elephant is like a tree trunk.”

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Good Deed
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Dec 2017

A reverend walking down the street noticed a little boy trying to reach the doorbell of a house.

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Analogy
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Nov 2017

The following analogy characterizes the attitude of a typical Trump administration official in relation to the looming energy crisis.

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Getting to the Roots of the Problem
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Nov 2017

A man had frequent nightmares. Someone was hiding under his bed what made him wake up sweating and trembling every night.

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Oldest Profession
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Nov 2017

A surgeon, an engineer and an economist were arguing which was the oldest profession.

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The Dull Ax
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Nov 2017

A lumber jack worked long hours every day to exhaustion, wasting a lot of time and energy cutting trees with a dull ax.

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Quickies
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Nov 2017

George Bush came late to a cabinet meeting. He explained that he wanted to finish a puzzle.

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Three for the Week Ahead
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Nov 2017

A young woman suffered from cancer. Her doctor asked her what she enjoyed most in life.

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Jokes to Be Taken Seriously
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Nov 2017

The philosophers of ancient Greece concluded that by far the wisest among them was Socrates. They went to him and asked how he had become so wise.

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How a Seemingly Bad Luck Can Turn Out to Be a Good Luck
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 30 Oct 2017

How a Loss Can Turn into a Gain – What looked like a total disaster at first turned out to be a lucky coincidence.

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Lucky Coincidence
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 23 Oct 2017

Kenneth Boulding once said, “History is like a pinball machine. A slight change in initial conditions can bring vastly different outcomes.” Johan Galtung gave an illustration of this that he had heard from André Fontaine, the editor of Le Monde, on a flight from Seoul–where they had attended a conference together–to Paris.

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Picking Berries
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Oct 2017

This is a metaphor for work on peaceful conflict transformation. If you look at a conflict from only one point of view, you see a very limited set of problems and possible solutions.

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Which Direction?
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 16 Oct 2017

After a summit meeting, Reagan, Brezhnev and Deng Xiaoping were being driven to the airport in a limousine. The driver arrived at an intersection and asked which way to go.

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Keeping Peace in Transilvania
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Oct 2017

The media tend to report about cases where mediation fails and fighting breaks out, but they almost never report about cases where fighting has been avoided, and how this was achieved. They have turned the old adage “no news is good news” into “good news is no news.” Better coverage of success stories could encourage others to help prevent war.

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Disarmament
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 9 Oct 2017

When someone argued, “We have had nuclear weapons for 50 years and nothing has happened,” Helen Caldicott replied,

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Efficiency
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Oct 2017

During the French Revolution, a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer were sentenced to be beheaded on the guillotine.

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Common Ground
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Sep 2017

Unity based conflict resolution does not focus on the points of disagreement, but seeks points of unity, common interest, and gradually expands from there, to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution to problems.

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Fairness
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Sep 2017

Taking his seat in his chambers, the judge faced the opposing lawyers.

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True Skill
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Sep 2017

The yogi Raman was a true master of the art of archery. One morning, he invited his favorite disciple to watch a display of his skill. The disciple had seen this more than a hundred times before, but he nevertheless obeyed his teacher.

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Weather Forecasters
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Sep 2017

A tribe of American Indians on a reservation heard on their radio that there would be a cold winter. So they stacked up plenty of firewood.

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Courtroom
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Sep 2017

A man caught in embezzlement asked his lawyer, “Would it help my case if I sent the judge a box of cigars?”

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Double
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Sep 2017

The people of Minas Gerais in Brazil are said to love cheese. A man there met a fairy and she promised to grant him three wishes.

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Camp David
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 4 Sep 2017

The key to successful negotiations is to find creative solutions that give all parties what is most important to them.

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Opportunity Creation
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Aug 2017

A friend of mine and his wife were getting divorced. They quarreled about who should get the house. Both hired expensive lawyers and were close to spending more than the value of the house.

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Drunks
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 21 Aug 2017

Recently, a routine police patrol was parked outside a local neighborhood bar in Minnesota. Late in the evening, the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk.

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A Key to Heaven and Hell
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Aug 2017

The physicist Richard Feinman once met a Buddhist monk.

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IQ
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 14 Aug 2017

A team of psychologists has developed a new measure of intelligence, a metric measure. The basic unit is the tary.

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Dogs
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 7 Aug 2017

A man goes into a bar with his dog and tells the bartender,
“I have taught my dog how to talk.”

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Expertise
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 31 Jul 2017

A foreign tourist’s car got stuck in a small village.

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Heart Attacks
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Jul 2017

A married couple enjoyed their new fishing boat together, but it was always the husband who was behind the wheel operating the boat. However, he was concerned about what might happen in an emergency.

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Prevented from Speaking
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Jul 2017

Dr. Hossain B. Danesh was invited to give a series of training sessions on peace education to a group of 100 teachers in Banja Luca in 2000. Banja Luca was the capital of the Republica Srpska during the Bosnian war.

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Holding Officials Accountable
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Jul 2017

I met Bona Malwal Madut Ring from Bahr El Ghazal in South Sudan when we were both students and lived at International House in New York. One day in 1969, he received a long phone call from London, and went there a few days later.

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Safe Trip
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Jul 2017

A man went to an airline counter to buy a plane ticket.
“How likely is it that there will be a bomb on the plane,” he asked with concern.

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Improve Yourself
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Jul 2017

In ancient times, a king walked barefoot, as it was customary at the time, to visit a neighboring town.

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Saving a Marriage
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Jul 2017

A true mediation history from Johan Galtung. An Italian husband was fitting bathrooms with tiles for a living, while his wife, who was eight years younger, stayed home and took care of the household.

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Self-Determination and Peace
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 19 Jun 2017

Self-determination is no guarantee that people will always make the optimal decision. But if they make a mistake, it is their own mistake, and they have nobody else to blame. They will learn from their mistake and make a better choice next time. However, if a central government forces them to do something against their will, and they suffer as a consequence, they will naturally turn their anger against that government. Self-determination helps avoid such conflicts.

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Satyagraha
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 5 Jun 2017

A British platoon blocked a road against a Satyagraha force, one of Gandhi’s nonviolent but implacable acts of mass civil disobedience.

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Viewpoint
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 May 2017

During the German occupation of France, a German soldier entered Picasso’s studio and saw a small reproduction of his painting “Guernica”.

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World Law
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 May 2017

Grenville Clark, the co-author with Louis B. Sohn of ‘World Peace Through World Law,’ gave a talk in a town in the U.S. Midwest around the year 1900. He noticed all men were carrying two loaded guns in their belt.

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Greedier Than Thou
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 May 2017

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

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Peace Is Like an Olive Tree
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 May 2017

Building peace takes time. There is no easy way. It is easier to start a war.

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A Buddhist Bookstore
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 May 2017

A husband and wife grew increasingly apart. The husband, a businessman selling bicycles, brought his accounting books home and pored over red and black figures in the evening. His wife, who had become increasingly interested in her spiritual life and was fascinated with Buddhism, felt disgusted by her husband’s materialism.

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Logic
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 May 2017

A young man from a rural village went to study at the university in the capital.

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Jokes to Be Taken Seriously
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 May 2017

The philosophers of ancient Greece concluded that by far the wisest among them was Socrates.

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Descriptive Titles
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Apr 2017

Someone who farms is a farmer.

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Steven Spielberg
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Apr 2017

When Steven Spielberg (born 1946), the award-winning movie director, was a young boy, he was plagued at school by a big bully who regularly ridiculed him, hit him, or put his head under the water fountain.

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So Much for ‘Understanding’
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Apr 2017

The United Nations conducted a worldwide survey asking, “Would you please give your honest opinion about the solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?” Not surprisingly, it was a huge failure.

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Hidden Gems
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Apr 2017

A diver was exploring caves along the seashore. In one of them he found an ancient leather bag. Curious to see what treasure might be hidden inside, he quickly opened it, but was disappointed to find nothing but a bunch of hardened clay balls.

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The Gift of Insults
Prof. Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Apr 2017

A great Samurai warrior, now old, had decided to teach Zen Buddhism to young people. Despite his age, the legend was that he could defeat any adversary.

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Explaining to a Blind Person
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Apr 2017

Someone asked Albert Einstein at a party: “Oh, you are Albert Einstein, could you please explain me your relativity theory in three or four sentences?”

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It Is All for the Best: A Lesson in Optimism
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Mar 2017

A king went hunting with his adviser but lost his thumb in an unfortunate accident. His adviser told him, “It is all for the best.” The king was furious, and as soon as they arrived at the palace he put his adviser in jail.

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Genetic Codes
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Mar 2017

Singer Madonna proposed to physicist Stephen Hawking:

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Demilitarizing
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Mar 2017

There are about 30 countries without a military in the world, most of them small, but they are doing well.

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Expressing Needs
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 27 Feb 2017

A father and mother quarreled again, as they did frequently. He had forgotten to take out the garbage, and she whined,

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Symmetry
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Feb 2017

A husband and wife spent their vacation at a lake where he enjoyed fishing.

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