Rand
Uehara: What personal goals did you have prior to joining the
Center?
Tess
Black: In a nutshell, I wanted more intellectual and creative challenges.
I'd been working for a local commercial publishing company for many
years and had reached a certain level of expertise that didn't promise
any new directions for me. I felt I had slipped behind the huge curve
that has exploded in the field of communications over the past ten years.
I wanted to broaden my perspective to include a global view, improve
my graphic design skills and develop my writing skills. And I wanted
to graduate, from my apprenticeship of learning skills, to a level of
applying my skills in service to a greater purpose.
RU:
Were you able to fulfill those goals?
TB:
Absolutely, beyond my wildest expectations.
RU:
What would you consider your most significant accomplishments while
at the Center?
TB:
When I was first hired on at the Center, I was the only professional
graphic designer among a staff of technical experts. The organization
was dynamic, driven by visionaries. I was fortunate to come in during
such a period of rapid growth as it enabled me to make a big impact
with each task I was charged with accomplishing. The first year I was
very pleased with the progress we made in creating and establishing
the Center's image — everything from office stationery to an information
kit to annual reports. During the second year, I worked closely with
the public relations manager, Robin Hayden. Together we launched The
Liaison, first as a publication and now online as an addition to our
website. We were able to develop a full-fledged editorial magazine from
a four-page newsletter and sustain it entirely in-house. It is the culmination
of a wonderful partnership with the PR group and a great source of pride.
RU:
Having seen the Center's recent growth, what hopes do you have for
the organization in terms of its future?
TB:
Tremendous, unlimited hopes! The work being done is critically important,
as it's clear the need for better understanding and cooperation between
the world's peoples is escalating in importance as both complex humanitarian
crises and natural disasters seem to be proliferating into a new kind
of growth industry. It's heartening to witness the increasingly organized
emphasis placed on education and training at the Center and is evident
in the high level of character, combined experience and focus of the
staff. Great strides are being made, expanding contacts and building
context with other nations, both on the military and civilian sides,
especially in peacekeeping operations training–the direction is
pro-active and creative. The Center can take a dynamic role in re-defining
what peace operations mean, with more immediate and satisfying results.
The
more the Center is able to retire ineffective processes and objectively
streamline organization internally as well as externally, the better
it can serve, offering hope where none would appear to exist. The Center
bears a huge responsibility. The energy, intention and intelligence
have always existed but now there is cohesion from within that can support
that responsibility. I'd say we're finally looking at the future through
at least one clear window.
RU:
In what ways has working at the Center changed your life? What significant
lessons have you learned?
TB:
It has expanded my concept of the world and my appreciation for what
I have in my life. The degree of freedom from pain, suffering, oppression,
and loss — that is very rare both historically and in contemporary
time. Human beings are so fragile; our lives are so precarious and seem
to hinge on forces that are more often than not completely beyond our
control.
But,
as Desmond Tutu said, although "human beings are terrible; they are
also wonderful." One of the pivotal experiences I have had since coming
to the Center was to attend the Hague Appeal for Peace in the Netherlands
in May ,1999. It was over-whelming because I was thrust into a realization
of the enormous complexity of the problems we all face. It's so dishearteningly
repetitive — the more we learn technologically, the less willing
we seem to be to do the really hard work of correcting and bettering
ourselves, our own nature. It takes commitment and perseverance, neither
of which is a prominent value in our comfortable universe of automated
money machines and instant entertainment. At the same time, and this
is what was so disarming, there was a powerful undercurrent — like
the groundswell that precedes an earthquake — that lifted the whole
event for me. It was this great yearning for peace. This, too, is a
universal concept for all human beings, and I believe it can be the
instrument to reclaim our higher nature.
The
Hawaiian people have a beautiful word for it — lokahi. It means
unity, the whole, working together. This is what I see as the ultimate
goal for the Center and myself. It's the value of community — and
we cannot continue without realizing that we are all human beings, a
community, literally and figuratively connected to each other —
and the power of it.
RU:
You've had a photograph of the Dalai Lama on your desk since you first
started working at the Center. What particular significance does this
man have for you?
TB:
Because he is exactly who he is represented to be: a holy man. A whole
man. A few years ago he came through Hawaii. The week prior to his appearances,
the media broadcast documentary videos of his life. I was struck by
his extraordinariness, embodied in such an ordinary package. He is an
enormously intelligent person, cultured and educated yet he has a great
sense of humor. At the same time he can enjoy tediously ordinary things
like repairing watches. Remember that song, "What if god was one of
us? Just a slob like one of us?" [laughs] Well, that's the Dalai Lama.
I
went to see him twice. From the moment he came on stage he filled the
space entirely, made it intimate. I felt included, like I could walk
up to him, speak to him and touch his hand and feel completely comfortable,
and it would be the same for anyone else walking up to him. Such an
ordinary- looking middle-aged man wearing glasses and a monk's robes.
But as his name states, he is an ocean of compassion. His spirit is
so big it could even embrace the murderers of his countrymen. Can you
imagine a person carrying a name like that and having it seem completely
natural? He pulls it off, and I get the sense that if he can, you or
I can. He is a great healer. That's why I have his picture on my desk,
to remind me that we are all healers. Wherever we are, always, in whatever
small task we are engaged upon and with whom-ever we are relating in
the moment, we have that same chance to be open.
RU:
I'm sure I speak for everyone at the Center when I say that we wish
you the very best.
TB:
Thank you. 
