Conflicts raging globally are usually framed as necessary, inevitable, and with justified glory for ‘our side.’ With this polarization, it becomes unpatriotic - if not illegal - to question the very basis of war or its devastation for our shared humanity and planet. But sustainable peace requires intersectional approaches. By interweaving stories from contemporary war witnesses, this TEDx Talk creates an interactive conflict model – and explores how each of us can reduce collateral damage by impacting the narratives of war. Heather Wokusch is a global educator and public speaker, psychotherapist and multimedia storyteller. She ist a human rights advocate, community-building strategist and the founder of MESPERO: Impact for Resilience (building mental-health capacity) and SDG2030.me (scaling innovations for the Sustainable Development Goals).The theme "Balancing Polarity" resonates in every aspect of Heather’s work. On a personal level, she is especially focused on exploring the hidden polarities and intersectionalities of war – with the aim of identifying shared paths to peace. This pursuit has led her to conduct dozens of interviews with war survivors ranging from atomic bomb witnesses to refugees from contemporary conflicts, along with military members and political decision-makers across the world.In her TEDx Talk, Heather shares an interactive matrix of her findings about wars’ unspoken areas of ‘collateral damage’ – and ideas for how each of us can impact the narrative for positive change. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx