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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=480351101-06112000>Dear friends and
colleagues in Open Space,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=480351101-06112000>I have been thinking
about the implications of this list and Open Space on Open Space as vehicles
through which there is communication across cultures. Cross cultural
communication and cross cultural conflict resolution have been among my work
passions for a few decades. In both contexts we have chosen to use English as
our common language. Did we choose it? Or did some people comply with the norm
somehow? Anyway, we have English and we find ourselves in difficult spots
sometimes and I think some of this is because we are not sensitive enough to
each other's interpretations of similar words in English. I think there are many
different interpretations of Spirit. Based on country of origin. Yet we handle
it as though there is a similar interpretation. Likewise, I think there are many
different interpretations of other words. I think this was a culprit at OSONOS
and we did our best with it (and thank you to our hosts for having the
conference in English). Do any of you have any thoughts on this? Any suggestions
for how we can do well with our international conversations?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=480351101-06112000></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=480351101-06112000>Birgitt</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>