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
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