Genuine commitment to transformational outcomes in communities inevitably leads to an
encounter with the tensions of gridlock and chaos. Some resolve the tension by merely
identifying their good intentions with transformation, failing to ask what has actually
changed in the lives of the poor. Genuineness questions the good at every level, at the
level of vision, expression, and outcomes.

There are some who mistakenly respond by claiming the best way to "do no harm" is to do
nothing. In a context of unequal power, failure to engage sufficiently, ensures the
forces of injustice and entropy operate unchecked. The social fabric of life unravels
under the unchallenged sway of exploitation, conflict, disease, and poverty...chaos.

On the other hand, operating under a mechanistic paradigm, development often exerts such
control over a context that it threatens the very dignity and autonomy of the people it