Sharing a Common Space

Reading about conflicts, who started what and when, feuds, long standing suspicions, decades and centuries of mistrust—one authority quotes experts to bolster his opinion and another authority responds with a new slate of experts. The arguments continue and are fueled by long standing refusals to see another way.

Rhetoric heats up and is the tinder—the match that ignites emotions. It doesn't listen.

"Generally speaking, the first nonviolent act is not fasting, but dialogue. The other side, the adversary, is recognized as a person, he is taken out of his anonymity and exists in his own right, for what he really is, a person. To engage someone in dialogue is to recognize him, have faith in him. At every step in the nonviolent struggle, at every level we try tirelessly to establish a dialogue, or reestablish it if it has broken down."
—Hildegard Goos-Mayr