Many of us have bought a book on impulse, left it on the coffee table or beside the bed with every intention of reading it, then, during a grand tidy-up, placed it on the bookshelf where it is forgotten and disappears from view. Sometimes it stays there for years before being rediscovered.
This happened recently to me while searching my bookshelves for books about conversation and better conversations. I came across a pristine copy of Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations by Nihal Arthanayake
and realised I had never actually read it.
Flicking through the pages, one chapter immediately caught my attention. It tells the story of filmmaker Deeyah Khan, who set out to meet and talk with American neo-Nazis. She approached these encounters with understandable apprehension, unsure how she would be received or where the conversations might lead. What surprised both her and me was that, despite their profound differences, genuine conversations became possible and, in some cases, real human connections emerged.
I have written about the story in a separate post, Meeting the Enemy, as part of the Conversational Stories chapter in this blook. There you can also watch Deeyah Khan’s documentary and see some of these extraordinary conversations for yourself.
Knowledge Letter: Issue: 314 (Subscribe)
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Image Credits: Midjourney
(Public Domain)
