A Soulful Journey

When the Soviet Union broke off relations with Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, it didn't waste time on diplomatic niceties. Andrei Gromyko, then the Soviet foreign minister, currently informed is really foreign minister Abba Eban that the Soviets were making the move to protest Israel’s seizure of Arab lands. Eban, said that in times of conflict nations ought to intensify their contacts. “You are giving me logic, Mr. Foreign Minister,” Eban remembers Gromyko replying. “But I am not here to be logical. I am here to break relations.” Sometimes  even logic fails when people are stubborn and refuse to enter into a dialogue.

"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have run out." -Chinese proverb As long as we can speak there is civility.

Life is not fair.  You've heard that before.  One thing that tends to make life fairer is to put our cards on the table, say what we want to say.  It does not always change bad to good but it does make an opportunity for dialogue. Example: Rube Waddell, the Hall of Fame Pitcher liked to eat crackers in bed.   When they used to travel with the Philadelphia Athletics the players slept two in one bed.   Rube Waddells’ bunk mate was Connie Mack, the manager, who put an anti-cracker clause in Waddell’s contract. -George Will