The flood of horrific events over the past weeks and months have underscored the essential human values that make us human beings.

For the past decade our Third Space team has been working hard to identify and develop those essential human attributes. On our path of seeking truths, we have interviewed hundreds of practitioners; to share truths, we taught hundreds of students; to improve communities, we partnered closely with hundreds of colleagues. We, ourselves, learned from them all.

They were people from every continent, from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, spanning from Bulgaria to Beijing. They were the daughters and sons of migrant farm workers from Mexico, they were NGO leaders and start up entrepreneurs, they were government officials from the low ranks and the high echelons of responsibility. They were the rich and the poor.

To our surprise, we discovered that from country to country, from religion to religion, and across professions, these five attributes were readily embraced by all to whom we offered them. We did not find ‘Asian’ attributes, nor ‘African’ ones. Nor female or male. Nor Chinese, nor American ones. Certainly, the five were differently felt or embraced depending on circumstances, but there was full agreement that we wanted our neighbors, our friends and our family to be empathetic, culturally competent, ready to adapt, intellectually curious and to have a wide view of the world– without exception. Our scholar friends showed us how our findings dovetailed with the work of other scholars and philosophers.

As we progressed, we agreed that our big fractious world would be a far better place if more of us embraced our common values. So we invite you to join us and embrace empathy, cultural competency, curiosity, 360 degree thinking, and the will to adapt to our changing society. It has been stated before that the true measure of a society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable communities. Never has this idea been more applicable than today. The Third Space welcomes you as you are. Join us to help make the world a better place.