RE: [humanmarkup-comment] RE: Diplomacy, America's Image, and Hum anML

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

It is not our image we should seek to improve.  It is our understanding 
of how our actions shape our image both in the minds and hearts of other 
cultures and communities, and within ourselves that must be improved.  We 
do not shape our image well by acting outside the boundaries of the intent 
of our just leadership, nor by violating our own personal moral and 
ethical codes.   We must offer with candor, our goals as 
beneficial to all whom they will affect, but before we do that, 
we must know with complete confidence that they are beneficial 
to all whom they will affect.  Before we can do this with confidence, 
we must possess an intimate understanding of the culture of those 
to whom we offer these benefits and from whom we accept gifts.  

Nothing can be given profitably to one whom we ourselves have judged 
unworthy to receive a gift.   Nothing received from such a person 
will be worthy or beneficial.  Our judgements can be wrong 
and we can fail, but there is no other way, so we must work 
not to improve our image, but to improve our judgement.

If we desire a good image, we must act within our own system of 
justice and our own image of what would be just treatment were 
we to commit the act of giving or receiving.  Only then will 
our image improve and only as a benefit of improving our judgement.

Our difficulty is resolve conflicts between candor and diplomacy 
in the context of achieving the intents of our just leadership. 
HumanML can be a means to gain knowledge, that is, to know, but 
to be and do require more:  they require experience and personal 
character.

len

From the US Army Leadership manual:

"Cultural Awareness 

2-59. Culture is a group's shared set of beliefs, values, and assumptions about what's 
important. As an Army leader, you must be aware of cultural factors in three contexts: 

o You must be sensitive to the different backgrounds of your people. 
o You must be aware of the culture of the country in which your organization is operating. 
o You must take into account your partner's customs and traditions when you're working with forces of another nation."