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Now wasn’t that just dandy?
The harmony paradigm we all have been taught to love again prevails. Granted, it required a mysterious stranger but that’s not all that unprecedented. Nonetheless, the old paradigm, trusted and tested, is alive and working in Riverton – at least in this story.
Would that it were true. Maybe if we get a different Mayor, a different Governor, a different President, we can pull it off. Maybe if we are visited by a mysterious stranger, all will be well. Unfortunately, we have tried all three many times and the issues persist.
We can try a change of Mayor, a change of Governor, or a change of President. If at first or second or third or umpteenth we don’t succeed, we will keep changing our leaders but the odds of resolving our most critical issues are low and getting worse. I need not list those issues since we are unlikely to agree on the list anyway.
I refer you back to the two questions asked before the story.
• Why do we persist in trying to resolve our collective issues using the same approaches and strategies we have been taught since we were too young to understand, knowing that the chances of lasting success are slim to none?
• If our conflict resolution paradigm no longer works — assuming that it ever did – and knowing that most will not agree to any new paradigm that might be proposed, how will you approach conflict resolution at the family, community, national, and humanity levels without reverting to the faltering paradigm we have all been taught?
Be well, do well and do something nice for someone. He or she will appreciate it and you both will have a better day.