Balcony – n. 1. A platform that projects from the wall of a building and is enclosed by a parapet or railing. 2. An interior projecting gallery in a public building (as a theater). (Webster's Dictionary)

How strange that the definitions of "balcony" make no mention of its primary trait, perspective. Consider “Romeo and Juliet,” Buckingham Palace, and the balconies of Lima. Balconies allow us to see others better. Crowds of thousands, even tens of thousands, can see those on a balcony. Balconies afford the ones standing on them a different, presumably better view than that of everyone else, whether of a theater stage, a courtyard, or the ocean. Such views are desirable and often priced at a premium, so balconies also seem difficult to attain. They are for the few and not for the many, we think.

William Ury, negotiator and author of “Getting to Yes,” has brought a third, much broader and more accessible definition of balcony into view.

Ury is the co-founder of Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation and has represented the United States at the international negotiating table. In a 2010 TED Talk, he explained that parties in conflict usually refer to “sides” – in particular, two sides. “But what we don't often see is that there's always a third side,” Ury said, “and the third side of the conflict is us, it's the surrounding community, it's the friends, the allies, the family members, the neighbors.”

Then Ury said, “The third side helps us go to the balcony, which is a metaphor for a place of perspective ....” 

Contrary to what we might imagine, it isn’t only the few who should or even can go to the balcony. Ury is in the company of Jane Goodall and many neuroscientists and social scientists in pointing out that humans are hard-wired for cooperation. Despite the complexity and violence of the conflicts about which Ury negotiated, he said he’s seen nothing that dissuades him from the belief that "peace is possible."

Ironically, the loftiness of that hope brings us back full circle to the  need for something tangible, such as a good solid “platform that projects.” In reality, we need both parts of our definition of balcony; first, in order to appreciate the one as a design feature and, more importantly, to do what Ury spent his career practicing.

The simple, physical nature of his metaphor can help us envision ourselves – all of us! – literally climbing the stairs to a balcony, a platform that projects, enclosed by a parapet or railing, and throwing open the doors onto a helpful perspective.

Photo Caption: Rex Greets His Subjects, Mardi Gras, New Orleans. A circa 1920s -40s postcard of the view looking up St. Charles from a balcony on the former Kolb's Restaurant (125 St. Charles) with crowds in the street and floats of the Rex parade receding into the distance.