Friday, October 22, 2010

The Real Conversation is...

This morning I read an article by Preston Manning about political discourse in Canada. A question he posed was, "Why is it so difficult to have meaningful debate on health-care reform or environmental conservation measures in Canada’s political arena, despite the importance of such issues and the desperate need for action on both fronts?"

I would like to say the column is relevant and applicable beyond Canadian borders. How many times have you listened to a political debate in the US when the discussion (if you could call it that) promoted fear, slammed the opponent and totally ignored the issues at hand?

What happened to generative dialogue when two people come to the table, listen (yes, that word) to each other and then generate something very powerful for the sake of sustainability, thrivability, to serve the people they're supposed to be or wanting to be representing? What would it take for them to get over themselves and be present to the issue and challenges at hand?

How does this apply around a board room table? Governments? The UN? Executive committees? What would it take to make it stop?

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