My wife and I witnessed an awesome display of aviation other day. Two hawks were flying around across street, swooping right over us at times. They were trying to establish a new nest.

Usually, hawks fly somewhere "up there", distant silhouettes against blinding brightness of sky. But on this occasion, they were flying low enough for us to make out colors beneath their wings: deep, dark brown and sandy tan feathers.

And low enough to see colors of little birds (sparrows, perhaps?) giving chase. It was an even match, or so it seemed. Two sparrows versus two hawks. OK, perhaps not completely even. Each hawk looked big enough to gulp down a sparrow in a single chomp, like a person might swallow a grape. Come to think of it, this match did not look any more even than if I had been placed in a ring with a well-fed sumo wrestler.

Yet there they were, two big hawks, graceful and majestic, scourge of field mice everywhere, managing impossible maneuvers to evade slightest touch of tiny sparrows.

Why? Because sparrows are more agile than hawks, and can more easily position themselves for attack. Because sparrows are less fragile than hawks, and do not fear feather damage to same degree. Because sparrows are quicker than hawks, so they can more easily retreat if they have to.

Sadly for hawks, their size was of little comfort against superior skills of sparrows. And sadly for us, it appears we will NOT be watching comings and goings of hawks nesting across street.

Does size matter? No. But if you want to make that slice of cheesecake just a bit bigger, I would be much obliged.

Half of us in room had no idea what he was talking about, and sad thing is I don’t know whether he knew that (which would be bad) or didn’t (which was worse).

2 minutes later, most ‘fierce conversations’ member in out-group said, “Oh, you mean we shot down one of our own guys? That’s really stupid.”

Someone else added, “And tragic.”

SWEEPING ASSUMPTIONS

I hope more discriminating out there will understand that some of us despair at our own military with their reprehensible euphemisms such as calling killing children "collateral damage."

The US military is a sub-culture within a larger culture.

THE COMMON GROUND

The letter continues: “The day statue of Saddam was torn down, great divide between America and rest of world was briefly suspended.”

There is common ground.

MULTICULTURISM

Multiculturism demands that we use our empathy and intuition (emotional intelligence competencies) to understand other point of view, that we seek common ground, and also that we understand there are many cultures within any given culture.

I had a conversation with a client in Australia other day who eventually blurted out in frustration, “We hate American buzz over here. The hype. It’s too pushy.”

Did she assume I didn’t?

And should I assume she speaks for all Australians?

And should I assume she hates Americans (including me) because she hates "American buzz?"

Yes, she assumed I didn’t, while in actuality I dislike it myself. No, I do not assume she speaks for all Australians. I don’t look at things that way. Nor do I make grand and erroneous sweep to assume she hates Americans (and therefore me) because she hates something that some Americans do.

Check out your assumptions and challenge those of other. Look for common ground. Treat people as unique individuals. Brush up on your global EQ. The world is shrinking and we need to learn how to get along.