Opening Chapter or a Bookend? - EDI 2026

In 2019 we made the video Derry/Londonderry.  It was the first project of the newly formed Pass the Salt non-profit.  In the USA we were coming up on the very contentious elections of 2020 and because the video is about extreme political division it was perfect timing. 

We had community in both Colorado and N.Ireland that participated in the making of the video.  The video created community. That in part is the idea. The making of the video was great.  And we had plans laid out to follow it up, but then Covid struck.  I wrote a piece at the time detailing this - The Great Covid Kibosh.

Covid is the most dis-orienting shared event in all of human history.  It created division.  Split families and friends.  Also it broke trust.  Trust in our politicians, in our medical institutions, in the media, and even among each other as suddenly your friend became “the other”.  It was genuinely frightening.  What do we think now looking back?  I find it strange how it has just kind of disappeared like a bad dream where you have a hard time recollecting what happened.  All the lies.  All the manipulation.  How did we ourselves participate?

There is a line in the Derry/Londonderry song that says “it is the misuse of power that’s creating all the fear”. There was a lot of that during Covid.

There is no fear in love - but perfect love casts out fear (1John 4:18).  I wonder if I could somehow see in numbers, what is the ratio between fear and love in me, what would be my balance? 

Covid killed the momentum of Pass the Salt and then it went dormant.  Now, seven years later, Justin Kagin, the founder of EDI (Economics, Diplomacy and Integrity), called to invite me to his forum in Croatia in July of 2026.  I would go as a speaker and also as a musician.  His forum is aimed at young people going into business or politics to introduce to them the teachings of Jesus and how they offer the best way to operate either politically or economically.  

I decided to go.  Every year rolls around an I pay the fee to keep the non-profit going but not really knowing why or what to do with it.  This seemed like an opportunity to explore.  Hence the title of this piece.  

I was there for the full week of the forum.  There were some very good speakers there who touched on a whole range of topics from AI, to pure economic data about the Balkans, the inner workings of the EU, media manipulation, and much more.  I really appreciated Justin’s opening speech on economics that concluded with the most important thing for him to do, economically speaking, is to love his wife better.  It’s not what you would expect in an opening discourse about economics but after listening to the logic he lays out you see that it is brilliantly true.

I presented the Derry/Londonderry video and also the reconciliation work I did in Northern Ireland.  I also talked about what had been the vision behind Pass the Salt.  For instance, one idea had been (and could be still) to invite a small group of musicians/artists to EDI, to work in tandem with the event.  It would be highly beneficial for a young person going into the arts to also be introduced to economics.  Also it a great event for networking - this year there were people there from Norway, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Romania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Spain, Holland, and the US.  In turn this little group of artists would serve to bring a different dynamic to the event. There is something that works very well when you weave music/art into something that can be quite dry and tedious as speech after speech about economics.

I also presented a possible vision for the future of Pass the Salt that would involve a physical location in Córdoba, Spain.  I am glad I went.  I believe my presence there did serve the entire event and I had many people including Justin echo that belief.  I also came away with new inspiration and new vision.  I have to sit with all of this and pray.