If you’ve ever thrown up your hands in frustration trying to communicate in another language, in another country, you may also have stayed calm by reassuring yourself that at the core, we all have the same basic needs for food and shelter. As long as you’re not trying to discuss existentialism, you’ll probably be okay.
In multicultural communications it’s helpful to go back to basics as well, to remember the commonalities or common concerns that bring people together, rather than focusing on the differences, as was expressed by evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren during his address on Saturday at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America.
“Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them.” Warren said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls “the five global giants” of war, poverty, corruption, disease and illiteracy.
