We must realize we aren't grown up. We must realize we have to grow up and extend the vision that change is possible. We must learn about the nature of the human mind and ego and how it traps us in limited, fear-based thinking, and then teach our children how to be greater.

In our own lifetimes, in conflicts unfolding even today, atrocities have been planned and executed, leaving behind victims of widespread or systematic crimes. Societies across the globe have been deeply scarred and divided by crimes such as attacks on civilians, murder, using child soldiers and rape as a tool of war. Violence in one place inevitably causes instability in others. For some, this may seem a distant if disturbing fact, but for hundreds of thousands of others, it is their only reality.

The reality is that true collaboration is hard -- and it doesn't mean compromise or consensus-building. It means giving up control to other people. It means being vulnerable. It means needing to know when to fall on your sword and when to back down. Collaboration is inherently messy.