Pausing

"Many of us were struck by the way in which, when he was asked a question during a radio interview, Archbishop Rowan Williams said, 'May I take a moment?'  For many of us who were listening, accustomed as we had become to the cut and thrust of the quick question and the immediate response in public discussion, this was a defining moment.  It reminded us just how important it is to pause, in this as in any other context.  It is to recall the role of reverence and respect, in a question, in another person, in a situation."

- by Esther de Waal in To Pause at the Threshold: Reflections on Living on the Border