Voices in Dialogue

by Mary Thompson ~ DEI Participant ~ 10/5/06

We had our first session tonight and as I approached the Chapel room for the welcome and reception and heard laughter from up the long staircase I tried to reassure those small voices inside my head clamoring "I don't know many people here. Who will I talk to? Who will talk to me?!" As soon as I stepped into the room I could feel this sense of safety and calm wash over me as I saw tables with people grouped around them, open spaces inviting others to join, the warming touches of colours and flowers and pumpkins embracing all of us - this huge feeling of being welcomed and wanted… inclusion. The evening invited all of us to bring our experiences of Dialogue Education, get to know each other, make mental notes of who to seek out over the next three days, and just enjoy being together. I was struck by two things. One was Jane's wise remark on the importance of looking at our failures and her realization that "if it is not working then something is wrong with us, not them". To think of failures with excitement… "ooooohhhhhh! What can I learn from THAT???!" The other thing was the collective experience within that room, both of those who were there physically and of all of you who read this who are also connected to us, through whom you have known and influenced and worked with and taught and learned from. I felt a deep sense of gratitude for all that experience coupled with a curiosity and hunger to take from that those things that will make me better than I am. "An approach" Jane called it… "a conviction" said Peter Noteboom… Dialogue Education. There are so many possibilities open to us in how we name and practice it.