Camps
I watched with rapt interest last week as I witnessed people beginning to take sides on a slice of life that captivated the news.
The book title will probably be, “The Professor vs. The Police.”
Playing the part of a witness allowed me to see how taking sides is the precursor to a continental divide.
Each camp had ruffled feathers and their spokespersons had the stony appearance of being right.
If there is a force of evil, my guess is its motto would be “Divide and Conquer.” Pit one against the other and the focus will never be on a solution but on the perpetuation of the rift.
All parties contributed to the divide including the President of the United States.
Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher reminded us all to “Do the difficult things when they are easy and do the great things when they are small.”
My son is a police officer and I called him on Friday to wish him “Happy Birthday!” We naturally discussed the story of the professor and the police. He gave me some insight into police procedures that I was unaware of and we talked about how the camps were forming.
We agreed that the continued formation of sides would do nothing to solve the problem and, in fact, contribute to its escalation. The Grasshopper injected himself into the conversation and said that one of two O’s was necessary to diffuse this controversy – Oprah or Obama.
The thought was that one of these two popular, influential people had to bring the sides together and make sure this issue didn’t take on a life of its own and nip it in the bud. Imagine my surprise when later that day one of those scenarios happened.
Props to the President . . . he made the overture to both aggrieved parties to come together before their situation became a linchpin for continued division.
Arguing for rightness after a certain point becomes drama. Drama makes solutions nearly impossible. The best piece of advice I ever heard on solving volatile situations was, “Shorten the storm.”
I believe there is a lesson in this situation for all of us. The lesson is that if you hang on to being right, you will hang yourself out to dry.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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