my side, your side, we all scream for ice cream

I have at least learned one thing from working in an office environment. Everyone has a side. Everyone has a perspective, a view, on any topic or issue. The trouble is, we tend to spend a great deal of time making sure our own view is heard, and a lot less time listening to other people's sides, as though somehow they are less important than our own. I begin to suspect that this is how wars start. I read a piece recently by an acupuncturist, and she wrote that if you look at a war, any war, from any era, and you took away the weapons, and had a second look, what you would see would be people reaching out to each other trying to be heard, but not listening. I was sitting in a meeting today, and toward the end, things got very tense between two of my co-workers. Some people love to watch the sparks fly, but it tends to irritate me as I have better things to do that listen to people argue. I suddenly wondered if they were even hearing what the other was saying, ie, making some kind of effort to understand the view of the other. It was as though they were talking parallel to each other, rather than coming to a cross street and at least acknowledging the other. As fate would have it, I was sitting between these two - not a fun place to be. I felt as though my energy was being sapped from both sides. I came out of that meeting feeling very tired, and wanting nothing more than to curl up under my desk for a nap. These two have separately complained about each other to me. I would love nothing more than to lock them in a room together and let them duke it out once and for all. Let them fling the insults and accusations directly at each other, just to see what happens. Just so they know what it feels like. Maybe they'd kill each other, or maybe they'd find some common form of communication. Companies should think about panic rooms - soundproof, padded walls, a punching bag. An extra benefit in the 21st century work place.