Jim Moore’s Politics of Tenderness

Jim Moore writes in his weblog:

Maybe what we want is a “politics of tenderness.” Tenderness is healing, tenderness provides a sense of safety, tenderness allows the “other” to become open enough to touch and express their highest creativity and love.

This seems to me to be one of the most radical ideas in politics. It’s so radical it freaks a lot of people out — “Too soft.” “Won’t work.” “What about security?”

Well, what about security? In a very small world shared by 6.3 billion people, most of whom now can see what the others are doing, isn’t it possible that much of the toxic resentment and anger that swirls around is a response to a lack of tenderness? Not just lack of personal tenderness, but lack of “institutional” tenderness. How tender is it for us to intervene in Iraq, where there is lots of oil, but not become involved in Liberia or the Congo–where people are experiencing near genocides?

I’m not sure how it could be translated into the world of global politics, but in my own personal experience, an ounce of goodwill today has always proven to be a better and less costly investment than a pound of whup-ass tomorrow.