To succeed, we all need to be speaking in a manner that both sides understand.

In one of the more comical memories from our wedding I recall my father speaking German to one of the women who introduced us. My father knew no Yiddish while the Hungarian wife of a big rabbi knew no German. As my head was spinning, I heard the two of them conversing successfully. Years later, I read about a young Jewish American officer who was given a group of SS members to guard in a former concentration camp. He took great joy in giving all of his orders in Yiddish, as the hybrid Jewish language is like scratching one’s nails on a chalkboard for anyone who speaks authentic German. He was so happy to make the Nazis miserable.

Imagine getting new neighbors, a young Muslim couple. You make a Halal-friendly cake and go over to say hello. As you speak with the husband in the foyer, the wife comes down the stairs. Her husband goes into a rage and tells her that she is not dressed properly and slaps her hard on the face. Then the East-West conversation takes place:

“What you did to your wife was disgusting!”

“Don’t judge me. In our culture, a wife who does not cover herself in the presence of strangers brings disgrace on the family and deserves a good beating.”

“But you are no longer in Karachi. Here in Podunk, we are Americans and we don’t do such things.”

“I don’t know. When we arrived, we were told that America is tolerant of all cultures and religions. So don’t judge me. I don’t tell you not to cut down a tree for your holiday and you don’t tell me how to treat my wife.”

And with that, you grab your cake and go home.

One of the problems we have today is a lack of communication. And I’m not talking about Google Translate, however amazing it is. It’s very hard for us in the West to understand that people from non-Western cultures may think differently than we do. We were told........

© Townhall