Fill in your own tasty morsel, as long as it's not from the condiment tray. Relationships are the very stuff of life. Conversation is at the essence of relationship. Personally, there are few things I relish more than a ranging conversation with friends over an overflowing plate of supreme nachos. I long for more than conversations that span the divides fracturing society.
Dialogue is no panacea, of course.
It has no intrinsic power to usher in peace and harmony. Indeed, very often grudges and misunderstandings find their breeding ground here. Still, good conversation is the best item on the table. Potentially, it offers understanding and truth to those who partake. Drawing from many a conversation and my own, countless missteps, I'd like to suggest several ingredients of the kind of dialogue that is conducive to understanding and truth.