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Guns, violence and the need for some serious intervention…
6 October 2006Today’s post is slightly off the mediation practice building topic — but not entirely, I will tie it together, I promise.
The news lately has been fllled once again with stories of violence and school shootings and death of young, innocent lives. Tragic.
What is even more tragic to me, though, are the proposed solutions to these violent problems.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the proposal out of Virginia that teachers start carrying guns?
Many schools in bad areas have metal detectors.
Others point to banning guns as the answer, or toughening up the laws on acquiring guns.
Certainly on a superficial level there is some appeal to making violent behavior more difficult to achieve. Yet, it will just take another form. If someone is that set on murder, they will find a way.
What about what is driving these behaviors? It’s not as easy to pinpoint or address, but often times violence begins with unresolved seeds of anger and bitterness.
I’m thinking about root causes of violent behavior. What leads someone to go this far? It doesn’t happen overnight (most of these cases are not “heat of passion” cases). One would argue these are troubled individuals in need of psychological help. Indeed.
In addition to psychpathology, Daniel Dana, in his book Resolving Conflict, suggests that chronic interpersonal conflict that remains unresolved leads to workplace violence. I am sure the same could be said about school violence committed by troubled kids.
Not to diminish those psychopaths who commit violence because they exist. Yet, for the others, is there something we can do before people’s hatred, anger and resentment rises to the level they resort to violence?
I think so.
Here is how I tie this topic into mediation marketing. We need to take our conflict management skills to the masses. Dan Dana in his book Conflict Resolution describes consulting work he has done with organizations around teaching them how to mediate workplace conflict (that is mediating informal conflict that has not yet risen to the level of formal, litigation or other conflict) and also to self-mediate.
Provocative work. There is a huge market for your services. Don’t limit yourself to the narrow litigated case market. Look at Dr. Dana’s work in consulting with organizations and others who are doing peer mediation (teaching our kids is critical to long term changes) and so on.
The sky is the limit. As world events demonstrate, the world needs help in dealing with conflict now more than ever.
Who can you teach how to resolve conflict at early stages so that it doesn’t escalate?
Be creative.
Think outside the narrow box. Think BIG.
NEVER GIVE UP!
Your partner in peace,
Kristina Haymes