For each of us, dialogue means temporarily putting aside who we are and what we think, to try to understand and appreciate the other’s point of view, even if we don’t share it…
Source: Dominique Pire, Nobel Peace Prize 1958, founder of the University of Peace, Namur, Belgium, taken from the University of Peace website.
A few ideas about dialogue:
Dialogue means talking to two or more people, letting each express his or her own ideas, opinions and sometimes even emotions. It’s talking even, and especially, when positions are very different. The shared aim of dialogue is to come to a better understanding of each other, rather than allowing our differences to drift into insults and aggressive language – or worse, violent gestures.
Paradoxically, asserting yourself through verbal aggression is a sign of weakness. It’s the ability to engage in dialogue that is the most effective way to demonstrate inner strength and courage.
To begin a dialogue is to begin to listen. In dialogue, it’s through listening that we learn to share, including sharing the pain inflicted on each other.
A few quotes on dialogue:
Dialogue transforms the stranger into a friend, and frees us from the demon of violence
Dialogue encourages us to see the best in others, and to draw on the best in ourselves
Nothing is ever lost through dialogue.
Dialogue does not leave us defenseless: it protects. It is the remedy that heals in depth and frees us from the pathology of (…)
Source: Call to Peace, Interfaith meeting in Palermo, Sept. 2002, organized by the Sant’Egidio Community. http://www.santegidio.org/uer/2002/int_389_IT.htm (text in Italian)
Violence is a lack of vocabulary.
Source: Gilles Vigneault, Quebec singer and songwriter, 1928-.