Conflict Shapes & it Shapes Us

Photo by fotologic

Conflict is a normal part of human life, and while people sometimes reflect upon it as a negative state of affairs, it can be a source of creativity and innovation. As theorists, researchers, and others categorize, label, and dispute the causes and sources of conflict, it persists and continues to shape people including those that study and write about it.

This photo isn’t of me, but it could be. I have red hair and wrote about war and peace, among other things, while I studied Conflict Analysis & Resolution at George Mason University. In three words, I walked away embracing the idea that perception is reality. Thank you Dr. Sandole!

I understand that this string of words pushes truth off to the side. Many people assert that they know it, but I’m quite certain that other people hold truths that conflict with your own.

If you don’t embrace my perception is reality premise, that’s okay. My truth allows me to accept yours even if I disagree with it. It is not my place to change your mind to satisfy my own.

My original perception was that studying conflict would allow me to resolve it. But human behavior is impossible to fully quantify and predict, and points of view are continually changing. Conflict is life, and life is conflict. Resolution is change, and change is constant.

I have pushed my original perception aside, and believe (for some time now) that it is the quality of difference that humans have most in common; drawing upon this trait should be the core of change-making efforts of various types (e.g. improving interpersonal relationships, developing public policy, negotiating an agreement). Change is constant, and with it comes conflict. It shapes us as we shape it.

We all have agendas, so let me more clearly express mine. I believe that an attitude of openness towards difference is the only path to making the world a more humane place to live.