The term was not widely used then and it had a fresh ring to our ears which has since been lost. Parenthetically, as this web site enters cyberspace, we are aware of the limits of our current language and hope you will e-mail us to share your thoughts so we can increase the effectiveness of our working vocabulary. When people whose relationships have been stuck in stony silence or loud battle engage in dialogue and find new ways to interact and understand each other, their experience generally has a positive and enduring impact. Participation in dialogue usually re-humanizes demonized adversaries, softens stereotypes, challenges limiting ideas about blame and victimization, and counteracts despair.
Dialogue can change what participants think is possible and desirable to do.
It often reveals shared concerns that have been obscured by polarization and improves relationships in ways that open doors onto new vistas of possibility. In many situations, however, what gives dialogue its significance is what it leads to. When a colleague of the man from the environmental organization wrote an editorial that was seen as unfair and misleading by people at the paper company, the paper company representative picked up the phone and called the environmentalist that he had come to know and trust. He respectfully explained which aspects of the editorial seemed most misleading and unfair to him and his colleagues. The environmentalist found this feedback to be informative and could see that the most important points in the editorial could have been made in a less inflammatory manner.