I can't hear you...

Imagine three people sitting around at a table having a conversation. Joe asks a question in a loud voice. Fred responds. And everytime Fred responds, I fire up my boombox with a pulsating, bass driven, tick tick tick music. When Fred finishes, I put the boombox on pause.

That would be pretty irritating eh?

Talk radio does that a lot. ESPN Radio. Political shows like CrossFire, Hannity & Colmes, HardBall add to the sonic clutter with what seems like ten people talking at once.

Mrs. WonderDawg laughs at me when I yell out, "ONE AT A TIME PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSE !!!"

Bill O'Reilly won't let anybody finish a thought.

I can't keep up with the Top 5 Countdown with Keith Olbermann with what number we are on? 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 ?

Then Fox News has all of the graphic intros and outros with the swooshes.

Nancy Grace, you're making me feel guilty.

Rita Cosby, please quit smoking.

My ears hurt.

I just want to process a simple conversation over a cup of coffee or tea at a kitchen table.

Without the boombox.

Cell phone off.

And take that silly ear roach off when we're at a restaurant.

I do.

We need to have a dialogue...

The Miracle of Dialogue.

Reuel L. Howe best summed up the importance of reconciliation in the following statement:

"Every man is a potential adversary, even those whom we love. Only through dialogue are we saved from this enmity toward one another. Dialogue is to love what blood is to the body. When the flow of blood stops, the body dies. When dialogue stops, love dies and resentment is born. But dialogue can restore a dead relationship. Indeed this is the miracle of dialogue - it can bring a relationship into being, and it can restore again a relationship that has died. There is only one qualification to these claims for dialogue. It must be mutual and perceived from both sides, and the parties must pursue it relentlessly."