Borrowing a title from a great philosopher Bertrund Russell, I consider it the most grounded place to start.

During times of diverse opinions and loudness of what may seem many but in fact is just a few, there appears to be a sense of anxiety amongst the rest. When I say the rest, I mean those of us in a privileged position to have safe haven and health and prosperity to allow us be comfortable in life to form a position or value beyond immediate life.

Values are more important than ever. Or at least they continue to be of high importance. The divisive nature of society in our modern world can make you feel bad but if I think to my values, I don’t feel bad.

This loudness I mentioned may in fact overwhelm the senses of society in such that there is no more room for moderate discussion without the fear of discourse. One may fear they trigger another, are questioned or looked upon differently, maybe negatively and thus retreat. Retreat to avoid conflict and to avoid being categorised in one of two camps. For or against, left or right, self interest or common good and so on.

This platform is a way of pursuing values, exploring questions and it is in finding questions to explore that meaning and value can be obtained.

This is a personal platform but one that is open to all. I am not seeking for others to proactively change my mind, but rather hope this brings about opportunity for reflection. If you feel so strongly against this that it resonates anger or hatred, then please walk away and maybe by walking away we will walk into each other in a more calm sense. It is not that I am not open to alternatives, different positions or new ideas – to the contrary, I pursue those discussions in safe, respectful day to day interactions.

While this is a mere opening of what I believe, and unquestionably falls short of what could be written, I unfortunately do not have the equal time that Bertrund had to consider his thoughts but let’s see where this goes.