{"id":148,"date":"2009-08-06T01:52:22","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T01:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html"},"modified":"2009-08-06T01:52:22","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T01:52:22","slug":"bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html","title":{"rendered":"Bill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Bill<\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Clinton’s coup in negotiating the freedom of the young journalists
\ncaptured in North Korea reminds how much I admire the man. I always have. He’s
\na statesman. Some people respond to that with: “I don’t care. He cheated on his
\nwife.” Well, yeah, but Gandhi repeatedly subjected his wife to the bouts of
\ncelibacy he attempted to impose on himself and when he couldn’t do it any
\nlonger, he’d be back, expecting her to be “in the mood.” But nobody ever faults
\nthe Mahatma’s shortcomings in the bedroom as a reason to denigrate his
\naccomplishments as a leader.<\/p>\n

The point is: Bill Clinton knows how to communicate with
\npeople – not a chosen few, just about anybody. During his administration, my
\nfriends Linda and Allison went with their 90-year-old mother, Ruth, to a White
\nHouse celebration for the visiting President of Hungary. Ruth fainted during
\nthe very hot outdoor ceremony. She was whisked into to the White House equivalent
\nof “the nurse’s office,” revived, and was resting when President Clinton came
\nin to see how she was. His charm was off the charts. A bit of his conversation with
\nher was actually in Hungarian, her parents’ native language. And he didn’t just
\nstop in for some kind of photo op: he stayed until it was obvious that she was
\nfine could walk out on her own steam. When he left, Ruth told her daughters:
\n“It’s no wonder women want to sleep with him.”<\/p>\n

And in the past few days we’ve saw what his astute communication skills can
\naccomplish. When I read that Mr. Clinton had once sent Kim Jong-il a note of condolence
\non the death of his father, and that that may well have been one reason that Kim agreed to
\nlet the young women go, my heart skipped a beat. One thoughtfulness, one single
\nthoughtfulness from the past, was a key to freedom for these two women.<\/p>\n

What I read about the Korean dictator is that he is evil. The word “madman” is often used to describe him, and mad he may
\nwell be. Even so: a kindness that stretched across seas and ideologies touched
\nhim and was remembered.<\/p>\n

How different would the world be if the diplomatic policies
\nof all nations were based on genuine diplomacy, which has its roots in
\nunderstanding. How different would our individual lives be if we practiced
\nenlightened courtesy every day in every situation: a condolences letter to
\nsomeone we know and don’t even have to like; making time in our day when
\nsomeone needs us, even if they can be annoying or cloying or boring; trusting
\nthat when we empathize with another person, no matter who he is, we’re
\nexpressing both our humanity and our divinity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Clinton’s negotiating the release of the journalists held in North Korea may have started with a letter of condolence sent to Kim Jong-il. Living a Charmed Life author Victoria Moran considers how this kind of diplomacy could change the world and our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-adventuring"],"yoast_head":"\nBill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best - Your Charmed Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best - Your Charmed Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bill Clinton's negotiating the release of the journalists held in North Korea may have started with a letter of condolence sent to Kim Jong-il. Living a Charmed Life author Victoria Moran considers how this kind of diplomacy could change the world and our lives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Charmed Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-06T01:52:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/files\/import\/Bill%20Clinton.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria Moran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best - Your Charmed Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best - Your Charmed Life","og_description":"Bill Clinton's negotiating the release of the journalists held in North Korea may have started with a letter of condolence sent to Kim Jong-il. Living a Charmed Life author Victoria Moran considers how this kind of diplomacy could change the world and our lives.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html","og_site_name":"Your Charmed Life","article_published_time":"2009-08-06T01:52:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/files\/import\/Bill%20Clinton.jpg"}],"author":"Victoria Moran","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html","name":"Bill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best - Your Charmed Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/files\/import\/Bill%20Clinton.jpg","datePublished":"2009-08-06T01:52:22+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-06T01:52:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ebb794f0d368bdf88a1a63a4e4461b75"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/files\/import\/Bill%20Clinton.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/yourcharmedlife\/files\/import\/Bill%20Clinton.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/2009\/08\/bill-clinton-saving-the-day-and-caring-enough-to-send-the-very-best.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bill Clinton, Saving the Day, and Caring Enough to Send the Very Best"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/","name":"Your Charmed Life","description":"Victoria Moran on living with heart and soul in the real world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ebb794f0d368bdf88a1a63a4e4461b75","name":"Victoria Moran","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e82\/e82418f1930873d06f20efd5782c1bb9x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e82\/e82418f1930873d06f20efd5782c1bb9x96.jpg","caption":"Victoria Moran"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/author\/vmoran"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourcharmedlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}