When the White House decided it was time to address the rising tides of anti-Americanism around the world, it didn't look to a career diplomat for help. Instead, in keeping with the Bush administration's philosophy that anything the public sector can do the private sector can do better, it hired one of Madison Avenue's top brand managers.

Many of us want to make a difference in our lives, and in the lives of the people we love. We were born with a seed in our being desiring a better world, knowing that peace and love are a much better choice than anger and fear. Yet, we also are living in the 'dense reality' of Planet Earth, where greed, fear, and anger, have run rampant. We have had to make choices many times between these energies

There are two fundamentally different models for all relationships: the partnership model and the domination model. These two underlying models mold all our relationships -- from relationships between parents and children and between women and men to the relations between governments and citizens and between us and nature.

If you believe that you are here to prove yourself worthy, then your thoughts and subsequent actions will convey that belief and will indeed keep you where you are and keep you away from the imagined prize of perfection.