A Life Mostly Lived – A Mediator’s Haiku Memoir

Share:

Please enjoy these haikus from Dan Dana’s recent book A Life Mostly Lived, available on amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKRT3ZXJ

Discovering Workplace Mediation
A Life-snippet

I’m new to this job:

resolving workplace conflicts

as a third party

–

like couples, perhaps?

let them talk it out, don’t quit

refrain from advice

–

they have sovereign choice

listen for peaceful gestures

“say more about that”

–

my job’s not to fix

this magic process does it

I simply convene

–

mediation works

(without special credentials)

if I just let it

Hear The Other Side

in comfy silos

we hear only our echoes

muting others’ sides

–

our firm opinions

rest on facts we choose to hear

not heard from your side

–

we do not convict

people we accuse of crimes

‘til we hear their side

–

when trapped in conflict

there is only one escape:

hear the other’s side

–

from ancient wisdom:

audi alteram partem*

“hear the other side”

* A Latin phrase originating in Greek drama, a maxim in English law, a truism in mediation