A Letter to Readers
Faith Adler
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood,” – Stephen R. Covey.
We write this book during a time of great unrest all around the world. Through a variety of media, we are surrounded by news of violence, prejudice, hatred, and genocide on a daily basis. We have written this text with heavy hearts as new (and continued) acts of violence have developed between neighbors, cities, states, and nations.
We strongly believe in the importance of seeking to understand before asking to be understood and have embedded the heart behind that message all throughout this text. We hope that this can serve as even a small encouragement and reminder to seek out the voices of victims affected by tragedy, especially those with traditionally marginalized voices, and listen to what they have to say.
When others are silenced, we are given the opportunity to be a voice for those who remain unheard. We hope, in our heart of hearts, that you will take anything you might learn from this text and use it to do just that. Though with the seemingly never-ending rise of exploitation of media-consumers through flashy headlines, biased news, and false information, hope may seem further away than ever before, there has truly never been such a time as this to have and spread hope.
Faith Adler, on behalf of the Open Pedagogy Team
