After reading this Heinrich's, I have to say that he is brilliant. The passage about arguments and tense usage puts rhetoric into a whole new perspective for me. Heinrich maps the three issues of rhetoric and actually analyzes it, which most of us would not have. Using the three core issues of blame, values and choices, he defines argument in a different way that I can relate to in my own life, whether I know it or not.

Heinrich says that blame deals with the past, values are in the present tense and choices deal with the future. I found his principles to be very true. Each core issue should be used in different situations. When I get into arguments, I find that one core issue works better than the other. And if an argument is bound to lead to disaster, you should simply switch the tense. Just recently my mom and I had an argument about who should be calling each other and once again, I found Heinrich's analyzation to be very much applicable.

Mom: "Why don't you ever call me and I always have to be the one to call you?"
Me: "Well maybe if you do a little less yelling I might call you once in a while."
Mom: "Don't get smart with me young man and maybe if you weren't so much like your dad I woudn't have to yell at you all the time!"

Here we are blaming each other for our faults. At this point, this conversation is obviously very uncertain.

Mom: "So you think I'm the enemy here?"
Me: "No that's not what I mean. It's just that I feel that calling you everyday is a little excessive."
Mom: "Well all I ask is a short, simple phone call from you so I know what's going on in your life and that you're doing well. I would like us to keep some kind of bond between us."
Me: "Yeah, but seriously? Everyday?"

Right here, my mom expresses her values and I'm merely fighting against it.

Mom: "I know it can be too much, but I care for you."
Me: "I know you do but it's just that a lot is going on right now for me and sometimes I just don't have time to call."
Mom: "Well I'll tell you what. If you don't like to call, then why don't you come back home more often? Like, let's say every weeks?"
Me: "And drive three hours every week? No!"
Mom: "Well that makes calling everyday sound easy right?"
Me: "I guess...okay."

Here, we negotiate and show our choices.

Our conversations exhibited all three core issues that Heinrich explained. In order for us to reach our goal, we need to control the issue, therefore, keeping the right tense. Heinrich says that choice (future-tense) are more suited for solving a problem. My mom certainly got what she wanted (at my dismay).