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There have been a few colorful incidents at the Olympic Games and opening ceremonies that have brought about a bit a cultural tension. One involved the Spanish and the other involved American athletes. As we all know, the Olympics is an excellent opportunity for athletes from all parts of the world to compete with people from a wide variety of cultures and regions. For this reason, we should expect a greater degree of sensitivity than has been seen thus far. Now, the Spanish basketball team attempting to change the shape of their eyes to appear more “Chinese” in an Olympics ad is ridiculous enough that most people understand what went wrong. The behavior of the American cyclists deserves more attention.

An effective approach to slicing through the Gordian knot of multigenerational misunderstanding is the facilitated dialogue. This format creates a comfortable environment for people to objectively examine their own beliefs while staying open to hear the points of views others may have. It allows for acceptance of other peoples’ realities without forcing agreement. This template is based on a four-hour session. It can be easily modified to fit any time frame from 90 minutes to a full day.

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