Practicing the Complex Yes

When you disagree with a friend,
 a stranger, or a foe, how do you
 reply but not say simply No?
 For No can stop the conversation
 or turn it into argument or worse—
 the conversation that must go on,
 as a river must, a friendship, a troubled nation.
 So may we practice the repertoire
                          of complex yes:
Yes, I know you feel that way, and...
 Yes, and in what you say I see...
 Yes, oh yes, and at the same time...
 Yes, I see, and what if...?
 Yes, I hear you, and how...?
 Yes, and there’s an old story...
 Yes, and as the old song goes...
 Yes, and as a child once told me...
 Yes. Tell me more. I want to understand...
 And then I want to tell you how it is for me...