Cultural reciprocity

If I stand next to a person taller than I, I am shorter, but I am taller next to another person shorter than I. I am short and tall alternately; I am also taller and shorter simultaneously. This is the law of relativity. Tall and short are not absolutes. While this is obvious, we are in the habit of thinking in categories in a variety of situations because thinking categorically promises efficient learning. But it oversimplifies. The doorway is where we enter and exit alternately. When we pass the door between two rooms, we may be entering or exiting from one room to the other depending whether we consider the room we are in as inside or outside. Inside and outside are reversible. So, in a cross-cultural encounter, the same event or phenomenon which may appear to present itself as contradictions from two different sides is only two aspects of the same thing viewed from two different points of view. When we understand this reciprocity, we promote better mutual understanding by the members of the two opposing parties. This is what diplomacy should try to accomplish -- between nations no less than between individuals.