Lakhdar Brahimi Interview: Conversations with History; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
Page 6 of 6
One final question. How would you advise students to prepare for the future in a world that, through a slow process, will be resolving these conflicts, these situations? And if they want to be a part of that, how should they?
That's the work of the professors, not ...
Well, yes and no, because we have theories, but you have experience and the knowledge of practice.
You know, I really don't know. But probably I should stick to what I told you right from the beginning. Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand. Again, trying to understand does not mean giving up anything of your ideas, of your aspirations, of your culture, of even your prejudices. But you've got to understand what the other guy is about, even if at the end of the process you decide that there is no ground with this man or woman except to fight them. But understand first. I think this is what we need.
In the globalized world that is ours, maybe we are moving towards a global village, but that global village brings in a lot of different people, a lot of different ideas, lots of different backgrounds, lots of different aspirations. I think respect and understanding will help that village function better than it does today.
Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for joining us today and for coming to the campus, and congratulations on receiving the Stefan Riesenfeld Award from the Boalt Law School. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much indeed, sir.
And thank you very much for joining us for this Conversation with History.
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