Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269 Source: Library of Congress

A half-century ago this past April 16th, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”  Those words and that idea are even truer today. More than ever, we are connected. That is why it is so important that we make a conscious effort to understand each other.  Interculturally this means we must first develop the ability to see the world from different perspectives.  We must “cross over” into new territory.  Only then can we understand others and engage them in genuine dialogue thereby helping to weave the  “garment of destiny.”