A Workable Peace
Anna Brown

Globally, locally, personally, conflict is a part of the human condition.  Handled well, it can create ways to build trust and lead to better understanding of ourselves and those with whom we live.  Handled badly, it escalates tensions, creates animosity, deepens distrust causing great and lasting harm.

The Workable Peace model for conflict resolution, developed by the Consensus Building Institute, was presented at a one-day workshop held at Harford Friends School on October 14th through a grant provided by the Miles White Beneficial Society. This is an internationally recognized program for the peaceful resolution of inter-group conflict and has been employed in many places throughout the world.

The application of conflict resolution and negotiation concepts, learned earlier in the day, required participants to assume a role and personal identity in a defined conflict, in this case the assignment of the Modoc Indians in the 1870s to a reservation that did not provide for their safety or physical, cultural and spiritual needs.  In an attempt to play out my role as the Army General charged with keeping the peace and assuring the safety of all concerned during the negotiations, I found that it was easier to be the autocratic untrusting, overbearing, dismissive, disrespectful, take-charge person that I thought my historical counterpart had been than adapt his words and actions to the process of peaceful conflict resolution.  This may have been a fairly accurate portrayal his behavior as he was ultimately assassinated in the Peace Tent by the Modocs and would probably have profited from attending this workshop prior to showing up for that meeting.

I came away grateful to the HFS for hosting this event and CBI for their commitment to teaching the process to others as well as brokering peaceful resolutions for the overwhelming number of devastating conflicts that plague the planet.  That HFS incorporates conflict management into their core curriculum using this model gives me reason to hope that the next generation will do a far better job than the current one at restoring and maintaining peace in a very troubled world.