Today I am in Salt Lake City and the Peace March is over and we are tired after a very long walking tour this evening of the city. The peace march had around 500 participants and more were at the end waiting. The mayor of Salt Lake City gave a rousing talk and the crowd seemed to appreciate his “I am feed up” speech. Lots of people seem feed up too but not that many are willing to show up and march. The ones here today were very enthusiastic and the energy for change was strong. We met many good people and enjoyed talking and sharing ideas. It has been a successful trip and rewarding to converse with other concerned citizens.
The city, although in a very church dominated state, seems to have a variety of people with a variety of lifestyles which seemed refreshing. The Vatican of the Mormon religion does have a very strong presence in the city making it feel prosperous, caring and visually attractive. We ate at a Slow Food place called One World and it was good food and a neat experience. Check out the new Slow Food movement to change your eating out experience.
What I did notice was this peace event did seem to bring out characters and there were a number of people who seemed hungry to talk with like-minded people. I do have a preference in these kind of conversations. I prefer a dialogue kind of interaction. Several people my wife and I talked with were more into monologues. They like to talk at you but did not leave space for interaction. The world needs lot of dialogues with people carrying on real conversations. Monologues turn the listener off because they are not involved in the conversation. Monologues eventually burn out the listener. People who monologue cannot create successful relationships because all relationships need healthy exchanges.
Dialogues encourage the kind of sharing of ideas that enrich all involved. In a dialogue we can discover our connections to each other; our share hopes, dreams and desires. Dialogues have the potential to transform the world.
This has been a good day but I am running quickly out of gas. I will return home tomorrow and blog when I get home in the evening. Have a good rest of the weekend.