The Gentlest Joy of "Contention"

One of the greatest and gentlest joys in life is to love and respect, in unity, my opponents whose ideas are different than my own.

Invariably, as we have hung precariously on the granite cliffs together, we have found common crags and more sure footing in the small, but sure cracks and crevaces of our differences.

Both of us find common holds as we wedge our feet and hands in the tight places of disagreement.

In those crags of conflict we can be assured of one another's convictions and thereby, ironically, lay hold of a common hand-hold.

These days on the edge of conflict are the Great Adventure of intellectual and spiritual life.

Those of us from the granite peaks of the Wasatch Front, know that this unity settles and hardens rock solid as both sides listen and hear the other.

This coming together of opposites is the highest truth and the gretest joy.