Norway House Midsommer Dinner

Norway House Midsommer Dinner
Janet Dolan—August 29, 2006
The Mill City Museum, Minneapolis

I'm here this evening to share with you why I thought it was important to contribute significantly to the Norway House. If you remember only one thing from my remarks, I hope it is that in building a Norway House, we could be establishing something that is very important, not just for ourselves, not just for our Norwegian heritage, but actually something of service to our state, our nation and the world. This is why I think it is so important to invest in the Norway House dream.

The philosopher, Emanuel Kant said, "The most important ethical decision each of us makes everyday, is how we spend our time." I would expand that to say, "How we choose to spend our time and money is a clear reflection of our values."

We all are asked everyday to give to a wide range of causes, from political to religious to charitable to financial investments. This will be true of everyone we approach to contribute to our dream of a Norway House. So, the question is, "Why should they invest in our dream versus the Red Cross or Lutheran Social Service or St. Olafs Scholarship Fund or even the campaign coffers of any number of candidates on either side of the aisle?"

The only answer I can give is to paint the picture I have of what the Norway House could be and then ask, "Who wouldn't invest in such a dream?"

I invested in this dream for all the usual reasons. I wanted to acknowledge the debt of gratitude to my Norwegian ancestors. Through their convictions and values, I developed the values of hard work and personal responsibility, but also of tolerance, compassion, and responsibility for others.

I also wanted to acknowledge the debt of gratitude I have to all of the Norwegians who settled and built this state. Through their contributions and values, this state developed an ethos of good government and social responsibility that has produced a quality of life unequaled in any other state.

These two reasons should be enough to attract investment from most Norwegian Americans in Minnesota.

However, the most important reason my husband and I invested I the Norway House is one that should resonate with all Americans, not just those of Norwegian descent. The number one reason we invested in the Norway House is that we think it could become a world-renowned center for peace. It could be a center that would help develop the roadmap of how to effectively deal with the global challenges of the 21st century.

That sounds like a pipe dream for a tundra community in the middle of fly over land; however there is no one better positioned to take on this role than Minnesota, with its deep roots in the Scandinavian traditions of tolerance, modesty, and peace.

Regardless of whether you are Democrat, Republican or Green; American, European or Middle Eastern; or Christian, Jewish or Muslim, you know that our world is going through a tremendous realignment. We are moving from the Cold War of the 20 century to something new and evolving in the 21st century.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the traditional paradigm of the Cold War has been coming apart. First, the transition from the industrial age to the information age has "flattened the world" as Minnesota's favorite son, Thomas Friedman says. It has reduced our dependence on established hierarchal structures like government, political parties, big business and news networks. It has increased the power of the individual and small groups to influence opinion and mobilize action, whether it be for good or for evil. Witness the power of the internet to mobilize charitable giving in a time of crisis, as well as the power of blogs and web sites to inflame political action by small, radical groups.

Polls around the world show that people are very concerned that the world order is changing and the institutions put in place to deal with it are not working. This should come as no surprise to anyone. Just as the weapons you use to fight one war are completely outdated by the next war, so the institutions that are effective in one era become totally ineffective in the next era.

George Will often says the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said to him, "George, you will rue the day the Cold War ends."

We are now in that day. The Cold War is over, and we are going to have to figure out the new rules of the road because the rules of the road for a world run by two super powers do you no good in the new world order:

So who can bring people together to think through these challenges—and help develop the rules of the road for the new world order?

Well, it would have to be a people who are seen as credible brokers among warring factions and those of different views. It would have to be a process that is seen as trustworthy and neutral as to its outcome. It would have to be a place known as a center for tolerance and open mindedness.

I can see no people on earth better suited to take up that mantle than the Norwegians, both in Norway and in the Norway House in Minnesota.

We have earned that trusted role because of the very values our Norwegian ancestors handed down to us. We have a deep and rich tradition of tolerance, openness, and an ability to get along with others.

In this new world order, we need to get disparate and even antagonistic views to the table, to figure out how we are going to first co-exist and then cooperate in the 21st century. Right now, everyone is shouting and no one is listening. This happens at the beginning of every new era. We marginalize and demonize the other guys, in order to maintain our own group identity. However, eventually people in the middle recognize that we have to figure out how to get along. We don't have to like each other, but we have to get off this path of mutual self destruction.

I think we are almost at that point, but not quite. It takes a while for people to conclude that if we leave everything in the hands of the extremists, they will drive us all over the cliff. Therefore, we need to step back from the precipice and find a way to bring the various factions together to focus more on what we have in common, rather than what drives us apart.

I think a Norway House in Minnesota, in partnership with a similar institution in Norway, and perhaps even a Norway House in Dubai or Singapore—could serve as a global facilitator for dialogue and development of a roadmap for peace in the 21st century.

It is a dream, but someone has to start somewhere. Further, if we could get global peacemakers like Richard Holbrook and George Mitchell to endorse the ideas, and their counterparts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to also call for such a peace center, we could make a difference in the world.

As I said in my opener, we all want to make a difference in the world. We Norwegians have a long tradition of serving as peacemakers, as facilitators of the peace process. Our world has never needed us more than it does now.

I hope you will join my husband and me in sharing this dream with others as we all work toward establishing a Norway House for Peace here in Minnesota.

Thank you very much.

This page last modified 05/08/07