936411362_Resolving_Conflicts
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Resolving Conflicts
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Resolving Conflicts
Every day, people enter into conflicts even over the minutest of things that anyone would
expect people to argue about. Some conflicts are large in magnitude, and their impact goes
further, affecting more than just the people who started it. Therefore, conflict resolution plays a
significant role in helping address disagreements among people to live happily. However, the
process of conflict resolution is not a simple one. It is rather a complex process where one has to
understand the causes of the problem, the people involved, find solutions, and communicate with
the involved parties to do not aggravate the strife. One of the major antagonisms seen recently is
the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Besides, the class readings such as
Cathedral, A Worn Path,
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,
and
The Lottery
give a compelling view that resolving
disputes requires people to go beyond critical thinking and acknowledge the unsettling feelings
within the process.
Therefore, conflict resolution is a tough endeavor that requires people to
think critically about the problem and be at peace with the negative emotions in the
process.
Throughout my life, I have experienced a variety of conflicts both at home and in school.
One of these conflicts was when I moved to a new school in my junior high school. One of the
students was a bully and picked on me, giving me a hard time during my first days. As a new
student, I did not know what to do. However, I decided to understand the school dynamics, why
the boy was bullying me, and what method I could use to address the issue. After learning that
the bully picked on several students, I asked them if we could go to the administration and report
the issue. Fortunately, the bully was expelled. The instance shows that conflict resolution is a
very complicated process involving many activities. The process involves different procedures
such as understanding the problem, communicating with the warring parties, finding acceptable
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solutions, and presenting them before the opponents. Sometimes, one may require to involve a
third party to help in the negotiation process. My experience with the bully is somewhat similar
in resolution with the story
Cathedral
by Raymond Carver. The narrator takes his time to
understand what is going on between his wife and Robert. The patience and proper investigation
led him to unearth some disturbing findings, as implied by Carver (
Carver, 2015). In this story,
Carver shows the complicated process the narrator has to go through to understand his problem
with his wife and their guest, Robert. Therefore, I agree that resolving conflicts is not a simple
exercise but a complex one.
Another personal experience I had with conflict that showed solving conflicts requires
people to make sacrifices was during my first year in college when I had a sick roommate. My
former roommate had suffered from lupus for several years. However, the condition got worse
one of the times while we were at school. I was confused and did not know what to do. There
was not enough time to call his parents, who live miles away from the institution. After calling
the ambulance, they said it would take some time before arriving. Despite having no driver’s
license and little knowledge about cars, I hurriedly carried my roommate to the car and drove to
the nearest hospital. I risked both our lives to get him to the hospital. Based on the rewards
expected out of a conflict, people may go all the way into the conflict with the hope of achieving
the best results. For instance, in A Worn Path, Phoenix Jackson walks miles and encounters many
challenges but does not give in since she knows the rewards ahead (
Welty, 1941). Phoenix has
walked the same path several times, getting medication for her grandson. Phoenix is aware of the
happiness she experiences when her grandson is healthy. In this case, Phoenix’s conflict can only
be resolved by her sacrificing her happiness and walking many miles to get medication. The
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sacrifice pays off every time. Hence, I agree with the idea of conflict resolution not being
straightforward.
In addition, resolving conflicts also requires people to think clearly and make appropriate
decisions to help address the issue. Often, the biggest hindrance to achieving an agreeable
solution in the arbitration or negotiation process is the failure to make correct decisions. In this
case, the parties involved should see things from the other party’s perspective to make a decision
that is agreeable to all. However, rash decisions may sometimes exacerbate the issue rather than
resolve it. One of the readings that shows this phenomenon is Shirley Jackson’s
The Lottery
. The
short story is primarily about a local town with an evil practice of stoning one person to death to
ensure the residents enjoy great harvests (
Jackson, 1988). When Tessie Hutchinson’s family is
earmarked to participate in the lottery, she blames Mr. Summers for rushing her husband Bill to
draw a slip. The blame game is a rash decision for Tessie, who is essentially trying to get the
town to stop the practice and potentially save her family. She chooses the wrong time to bring up
the idea of unfairness only when her family is selected to participate. Things escalate when
Tessie draws a marked slip. Despite her attempts to shout about the injustice of the practice, it is
too late (
Jackson, 1988). Tessie’s poor decisions on addressing the problem of one family losing
a member each year through stoning do not yield any positive results.
Besides, resolving conflicts may sometimes include people accepting and experiencing
powerful, upsetting emotions, emotions that many would prefer to avoid. Conflicts can cause
emotional distraught between individuals with differences. However, the emotions they have to
confront to come up with a solution or get comfortable with a solution could be unsettling. For
instance, one may be forced to swallow up their pride and arrive at a common ground with the
other party they are in conflict with. Alternatively, other people may be forced to be content with
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being looked down upon so that they can leave peacefully with others. Ursula Le Guin’s
The
Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
presents a different set of emotions that people have to
contend with to achieve a solution to their conflict, or rather not (
Le Guin, 1973). The story
follows the life of a dystopian town called Omelas, where residents are seemingly happy than in
other places. However, their happiness is guaranteed only if one child is kept in misery to
counterbalance the happiness and flourishing lifestyles in the town. The conflict here is that the
town enjoys happiness at the expense of a child in filth. When many learn about the ongoing
injustice, they cannot come to terms with it and leave. Those who leave do not contribute to the
resolution of this conflict. They only condemn more children to suffer and misery while those
agreeable with the terms continue to live happily (
Le Guin, 1973). In this case, if only those who
left were willing to contend with their negative emotions of anger, pity, and guilty for some time
fighting the evil practice, then maybe there would be hope for the children left to suffer alone.
One of my personal experiences with conflict resolution was with a friend whose mother
was an addict. We were in high school. My friend had a smaller sister with who they lived as a
family of three. However, her mother had a lot of challenges taking care of them due to
addiction. She struggled with the addiction for years and was always in conflict with my friend
over the negligence of the younger sister. Eventually, my friend had to look for an appropriate
solution to ensure everyone was safe. She had to confront various emotions in the process, but all
was worth it. She had to commit her mother involuntarily to a rehabilitation center and look for a
social worker to get her younger sister a good foster family where she could get the necessary
care. As for her, she moved in with us with my parents as temporary guardians. In the process,
she felt guilty for forcing her mother into rehab and, at times, regretted it. Besides, my friend felt
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lonely and worried about her younger sister, who was now in foster care. I believe she made the
right choice since, afterward, her mother got clean and raised her youngest daughter properly.
In conclusion, the path to solving disagreements is not as easy as none might expect. It is
marred with many challenges that hinder people from seeing things correctly. However, people
in friction have to think clearly about their decisions and impacts. Additionally, the parties
involved in the conflict must be willing to face unsettling emotions and deal with them
appropriately to realize where they are wrong and correct. The authors of the short stories display
different types of conflicts with their characters successfully or unsuccessfully resolving
disputes. Thus, I agree with the statement that resolving major conflicts is not an easy task.
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References
Carver, R. (2015).
Cathedral
. Vintage.
Jackson, S. (1988).
The lottery
. Robinson.
Le Guin, U. K. (1973).
The ones who walk away from Omelas
. HarperCollins.
Welty, E. (1941).
A worn path
. The Atlantic.