I like to consider myself a conversationalist--one who listens as well as he speaks--but I leave that to the judgment of others. My ROEs begin with this--come away from a conversation knowing more about what your counterpart thinks than they do about you. Allow them to feel the imbalance, and voluntarily seek connection with you, before you offer unsolicited information about yourself. And if, after several opportunities, even in the course of a first meeting, they seem less interested in your journey or world view, than they appear about telling (or retelling) their own, the likelihood that a lasting and meaningful relationship based on genuine and heartfelt conversations is greatly diminished.

I have noticed that logic rarely works with my Evangelical friends, so I gently mock them. They say, "Jesus loves you," I say, "Yah, but he's over two-thousand years old and still lives at home."

One friend tried to get me with: "The fool has said in his heart 'there is no God'." I resounded by saying, "And the wise tweet it."

They talk about God, and I ask them, "Which God?" They reply... "There's only ONE God..." So I say, then which phase? The god of the old testament is an alcoholic father. When he's sober he's loving and compassionate, but when hes on a bender, it's hell-fire and plague. The god of the New Testament is the new 'sober' god working out the twelve-steps and trying to make amends. But then there's Revelation god which is God after he just gives up and goes back to the booze."

One learn for its own benefit.... Whatever happens afterwards, that's a different story