As you well know the ability of peoples all over the world to get along with each other is being stressed.  Some things that can account for this are:

[1] Population pressure.
[2] The expansion of ready information sources (TV, Radio, Internet)
[3] The Globalization of the world economy.
[4] Pressures on underdeveloped countries that have an excess of natural resources that are in demand by more developed countries (OIL).

As you also well know two of the most extreme examples of events associated with this stress are the events of September 11th 2001 and the resulting war against the nation of Iraq by the United States.  Other events around the world before and after these events are equally distressing and important.  These two events have, however, have focused our attention most sharply.

The Most Important Thing we can all do is to study the causes of our current situation and to come up with a way forward out of our common distress.

The way my country, The United States, has formally reacted to world events since the year 2000 has been abysmal, to put it most kindly and criminal at worst.

Through out this time I have talked long about and thought deeply about the what and why of events.  Of course many people who I admire greatly have done similar thinking about this.

Recently I have read a book by Sam Harris (The End of Faith, Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason).  I am currently working my way through a series of lectures and interactions by some of the most brilliant people in their fields on this issue. You can download or view the streaming video of this conference at Beyond Belief, Science Religion Reason and Survival. The conference is not just about religion, it is about how the universe itself and how human beings in that universe behave and work.

The conference and for that matter the books by Sam Harris do NOT offer recipes for how the planet is to move forward but given that you read the book and or watch and listen to the conference proceedings you will be in a much, much better position to think about the issues of our time.

There is absolutely no substitute for an informed public, it is the very foundation of our society here in the United States and now around the world, given how the modern world is currently operating.