Making Love in the Afternoon

Our afternoon session was about tools for dialogue. The Jewish perspective was using chevruta to talk and to honor the differences amongst us and celebrate them while also finding the common ground. Use the common ground to develop a relationship with the other so that we can talk about the places that hurt.

The Catholic perspective was love is the answer. Love your neighbor as yourself because we all recognize that God is the universal father for all and we are all God's children. If we are all God's children, then we are all brothers and sisters and should treat each other as such.

Ok, so as a Jew, this is not language I would use...but I do like the underlying idea. I believe in the interconnectedness of all people, that we are all responsible for one another, we all belong to one another. And I think there is potential for conversation around “we are all brothers and sisters” and how we treat our sibs. My experience of having a sibling means many many things. When I was young, my brother and I fought like crazy. He used to say the meanest things to me!! He beat me up and blamed me when he was in trouble. I would try to do the same (as the little sister, I was less successful in the beating up...)

And at the same time, in high school, when I was in trouble, I called my brother. He and his friends would come and bail me out. At the end of my last relationship when I was feeling really very sad, my brother was the first or second person I called.

A real sibling relationship involves both antagonism and protection, hate and love, push and pull. We did not talk about that so much...but I think the model is good...although not the point our presenter was making. For me, sibling means there is a lot of room for struggle as long as love and care is included as well.