What About Diplomacy - Fly on the Wall

"What about diplomacy?"

I remember the moment they said that the time for diplomacy ended. There was no more point in talking; it was getting us nowhere; the other side refused to listen; the time for action had come. That was an awful moment.

It meant that war was on the way and somehow diplomacy had failed. I begin to wonder, what is diplomacy? It makes me think of ambassadors, formal occasions, important meetings. I have the image of a very respectable profession, the art of compromise, all the issues being taken into account. What has happened this time? How could people believe that there was no further use in talking? What was going on during the time of diplomacy?

Some of the reports gave the impression of a lot of pressure and arm-twisting. Maybe what is missing in all of this present conflict is dialogue. People have to sit down and talk to one another. On this occasion, did people talk enough, and was it the right kind of talking? When people sit down to talk lots of good things can happen. But it's not always that way. There is something awful about the table where war is planned, where people sitting around the table come to a decision to use weapons against other human beings, the ones we call the enemy. I wonder what it would mean if we were to love this enemy?