Twelve Ground Rules for Dialogues on Difference

[Akita Suggagaki]

Whether we are at the kitchen sink at home with family, or at the water cooler at work we have the opportunity to communicate and to learn. Now more than ever, when our country, our countries and the world seem polarized, when each "side" sees the other as living in a fantasy, when differences seem impossible to get beyond, we as proclaimed believers in the name, person and ministry of Jesus, are called to step up. How? What can we do that the rest of the world seems incapable of doing? We can work for peace through dialogue. I know I can be as bad at it as anyone. So here are a few guidelines.

1. Be authentic.
2. Recognize complexity.
3. Look for the humanity of “the other.”
4. Respect the person and reserve judgement on ideas/beliefs.
5. Prepare for tolerable discomfort.
6. Do not start with difference.
7. Listen.
8. Look for assumptions.
9. Correct.
10. Accept you may not agree.
11. Reflect and be open to change.
12. Take a break and repeat.

Twelve Ground Rules for Dialogues on Difference

To develop an authentic sense of self in a context that is increasingly characterized by diversity and confusion, we need to think about what voices we hear (and don’t) and to which we should listen (or not). As a nation and as individuals we are in deep need of dialogue across the differences...

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