If you talk to the animals,
they will talk with you,
and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them,
you will not know them,
and what you do not know,
you will fear.
What one fears, one destroys.
—Chief Dan George (1899-1981) of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish band in Canada
John Thornton, Chair Emeritus of the Brookings Institution, one of the most influential think tanks in the United States, and Co-chair of the Asia Society, established in 1956 to increase American understanding of Asia and improve Asian-American cultural relations, cited the chief’s quote to illustrate the need for countries to understand each other and see each other’s point of view.
“There is no more important topic
