Do we seek to enshrine in perpetuity in the Middle East the violence, inequality, instability and desperation that characterizes today? If that is our goal, we should continue along the path of time-tested, centralized solutions that maintain the status quo. Or are we ready to do something about meaningful change other than lament its absence? Citizens in the Middle East are dissatisfied with their governments' initiatives to solve problems and improve lives. In many cases this dissatisfaction has resulted in upheavals by and/or increasingly oppressive measures by the governments. The only constant? Instability. Decentralizing the issues and problems to the stakeholders helps solve these problems and avoids the dreaded "we know better", approach of centralized authority or outsiders. Developing decentralized solutions requires an organized bottom-up process of stakeholders who would rally around a set shared of values and goals. The shared values and goals will help ensure that the majority are "moving in the same direction". This approach is longer, more painful and time consuming. However, in contrast to other solutions, the results are sustainable. Many solutions to the world's problems defy solution because no one has the answer, or conversely, too many people proffer too many answers. There are answers to what appear to be intractable problems in the Middle east. This is good news. It is the bottom-up approach to listening ---- and it has succeeded worldwide in the private sector, the realm of profits and government. I have devoted my working life to these solutions and can attest to that. The question is not about whether the answers exists. They do. It is whether leadership, in its many factions, languages, parties and families, has the willpower to allow those solutions to implement themselves.
