Let's Start a blog about Westfield NJ

This evening I had somewhat of an epiphany. Ok, you can argue what an epiphany really is. But I certainly had an - what I would call - an AHA moment.
As every Monday evening for the last few months I was at the Westfield Library for "Great Decisions". Great decision is a truly enlightening and very educational program on foreign policy offered by the Foreign Policy Association. This time it was about "War Crimes". The lecturer, Prof. Mark David Welton, was not only very knowledge about the topic but also was able to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic in about an hour. And most importantly and IMHO quite impressive, he was able to do this without using PowerPoint slides while still by interesting and engaging.
I certainly learned a lot about War crimes, the legalities around them and history of law of armed conflict. My opinion on the topic will be a lot more refined and my thinking a bit more differentiated.
Despite the somewhat grave topic, I really felt good about the event, about the evening and the fact that I was able to broaden my own intellectual horizon. And for some reason, I had this aha feeling, that I was actually quite lucky to live in town like Westfield where I have access to this type of event. And this is not the only good thing about this town. This appreciation for the town of Westfield caused me to start this blog to share some of my thoughts and experiences in Westfield and around it.

If you are interested - even remotely - in foreign policy, and everyone should be, I would really recommend the "Great Decisions" program. It is very factual and certainly non-partisan. Nevertheless, the facts are sometimes just partisan. There are not always two sides to a topic. And you get an opportunity to look beyond the headlines and the oversimplified news stories.

Signing Off - The Westfield Blogger