A mediators dream

The art of being a mediator was brought home to me recently when I coached a class of mediator trainees through the process of going from dispute to resolution. As a mediator you have to be able to see both sides of the issue, visualize where a solution to the issue might be found and guide the parties towards that goal. In the end they will believe that they have come up with the solution and are usually eager to settle the dispute.

It's fun work most of the time...but it does require that you present yourself as a neutral and be willing to listen to both sides with out taking sides.

But, back to my trainees. Many of them were practicing attorneys and their hardest job is to forget that as an attorney they are advocates and are trained to view events in as negative a light as possible. They are also unfamiliar with dealing with two (or more parties) representing differing viewpoints, with them in the middle. Almost every one of them found that it was hard work to accomplish the goal of resolving a dispute without taking sides, and I noticed the younger attorneys were able to make the transition easier than the attorneys with long time experience as a advocate, but they were willing to try!.

Too bad we couldn't require any one running for public office to be trained as a mediator before they can assume office. It might make for a better political process and it would certainly provide for a happier electorate.

The system and its players

Old NFO (see the sidebar for a link) wrote a blog entry about a conversation he overheard while on a flight back to DC. The lady seated behind him was bragging about the ways she is scamming the system to the tune of about $4,000 a month. He describes the conversation much better than I can and just thinking about what the lady is doing makes me angry.

I know more than a few people who have been on welfare of one form or another and in fact I have collected unemployment after losing a job because I was too old for my boss to tolerate. From experience I know there are people who will game the system just because it’s there but I also know that there are lots more people who believe in the system and try to live up to the rules and regulations. Unfortunately, just as there is 47% of the population that pays no income tax at all I think that much of that population is also abusing the welfare system.

From my perspective the system is broken because the welfare industry and the politicians who enable them want a significant part (if not a majority) of the population to be dependant on the government and who are a dependable pool of tame voters…at least for as long as the politicians maintain a political system that lets people vote the political class into office.

Perhaps indicative of the “state of the system” is a comment I read recently where the writer was approached as he walked towards a supermarket and asked if he wanted to buy $50 worth of food stamps for $30 and was told when he declined and tried to give the young lady $5 that “That isn’t anywhere near enough”. The implication of that public (and illegal) act and the public perception that cheating the system is ok disturbs me, and short of creating forced labor pools from the ranks of welfare recipients I can see no solution to the problem of welfare cheating.

Helping members of society that have hit a rough spot in life is a critical and essential part of our social heritage but I think the time has come for us to reevaluated the current welfare model and require those in receipt of benefits to not only contribute back to the labor pool but also pay (however little) taxes on the benefits received and income earned. Zero income; pay no taxes…anything more than that and you owe taxes.

Additional Thoughts

I have no doubt in my mind that a religion that makes possession of a Christian Bible or the act of talking to others about Christianity (or any other religion) a capitol offense is not for me. I also believe that half the world's population has merit and worth and I cannot agree with a religion that treats its women as chattel has anything to persuade me of its value.
In short I stand by the thoughts I expressed in my last post. Islam is a chancre on the world and I want nothing to do with it. But at the same time I know that there are many people who try to live the core values of Islam. That peace and fellowship is a goal that all can reach were it not for the extremists. Fortunately some of them are willing to stand up and tell their coreligionists how they feel. I appreciate what they are doing and say "thank you for trying to bring sense to this crazy time"

Eleven Years

The thought expressed in the picture above might be harsh, but I can't forget the events of that day were caused by the followers of a radical Islamic cult that claims to represent mainstream Muslim thought. In the 11 years that have passed I have yet to hear any mainstream or moderate follower of that 6th century religion stand up and condemn the architect and actors of that terrible day. By their failure to protest they have admitted that the actions of some have earned the approval of the majority.

Instead of action to assure that America helps the enemy reap the results of their evil act I see this administration ink a deal for the sale of 125 American Main Battle Tanks with the government of Egypt, a government that condemns the very existence of Israel and who will most likely use those tanks to attack their neighbor country just because they don't approve of their religion!

I'm not cynical...I'm disappointed in our country and its present leaders!

Enthusiasm

Last month we added two new dogs to our family with a plan to train both of them as service animals. Based on individual personality it’s our hope that one of them will become a disaster recovery dog who will assist first responders dealing with their emotions during both rescue and recovery phases of disaster. It’s a tough job for a dog…being squeezed, cried over and listening to terrible secrets whispered in its ear by strangers but the dog we think will do the job is following in the footsteps (pawsteps?) of a brilliant and mostly self trained dog who left us earlier this year.

Our volunteer for this job is a mixed long hair dachshund, Papillion female who loves to be around people and thinks her job is to be part of your life. Amber is less than three months old so we have a lot of training to do, but like most dogs of that mix of breeds she is a fast learner and also eager to teach us what she thinks we need to do to make her life more fun. She is a three pound bottle of enthusiasm that fizzes up and bubbles over at odd moments and thinks all things are there for her to play with.

Sometimes her targets don’t want to play. Last night for example we heard our oldest dog (who is blind and is in liver failure) whining because the pup had her by the hind leg and was pulling her into the other room so they could play without interference by the humans. All Abbie wanted to do was take a well deserved nap and she really wanted us to rescue her from this small, bouncing energy source that was making life difficult.  Because she is blind she didn’t know where to bite so she had to call on her humans to rescue her.

A training moment followed and much discussion ensued on ways to channel this energy without modifying the enthusiasm we need Amber to bring to the job.

I see many stories in the future.