All communication is more or less cross-cultural. We learn to use language as we grow up, and growing up in different parts of the country, having different ethnic, religious, or class backgrounds, even just being male or female - all result in different ways of talking.

The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation - or a relationship.

Treating people the same is not equal treatment if they are not the same.

In an ongoing relationship, each current criticism packs the punches of all the others that have gone before.

Life is a matter of dealing with other people, in little matters and cataclysmic ones, and that means a series of conversations.

In dialogue, there is opposition, yes, but no head-on collision. Smashing heads does not open minds.

Critiquing relieves you of the responsibility of doing integrative thinking.