Reading, the act of gathering information from the printed word, is not so simple. In fact, reading can be a dangerous thing. It can change the course of history. It can start a movement. A revolution, however small.

There is not better way to discover the complex crazy world around us and the minds of people that tickle our funny bones or stir our consciousness than reading. In so reading, exploring, dissecting that we come into our being (or unbeing).

We have music. We have the arts. But reading shapes us like no other medium. Words are portable, more so than a tune or picture. Dogma and propaganda aside, we hope that words we read are good and good for us. Because we readers tend to read things again and again. We make a diet of ruminated words.

Before there can be good reading, there should be good writing. And before good writing, there must be good thinking. Reading (good or bad) shapes our own thoughts. Our thoughts, if rich and deep (good) enough, move us into similar definitive action.

So it was with this mindset that I announced the 17seeds’ Reading for Reconciliation initiative. Little did I know that others have had the same thoughts.

• In Australian:
  • http://www.reconcile.org.au/getsmart/pages/get-the-basics/books-and-movies/reading-for-reconciliation.php
  • http://www.esjgws.org.au/issues/reconciliation/reading.htm
  • http://www.reconciliationaustralia.org/i-cms.isp?page=390
• Between Japan and China:
  • http://china-japan-reconciliation.blogspot.com/2006/06/required-reading-on-reconciliation.html

So enjoy reading back through the October 2008 entries of 17Seeds’ Reading for Reconciliation.

Adapted from urbanministry.org

Celebrating all that makes us unique and different, [bell hooks's] Skin Again offers new ways to talk about race and identity. Race matters, but only so much-what’s most important is who we are on the inside. Looking beyond skin, going straight to the heart, we find in each other the treasures stored down deep. Learning to cherish those treasures, to be all we imagine ourselves to be, makes us free. Skin Again celebrates this freedom.