What if the other person won’t engage?
Should we always seek conflict resolution?
The last edition of my newsletter garnered thoughtful and passionate responses from readers. Thank you for sharing with me. It seems this aspect of the human experience that we broadly term ‘conflict’ resonates with many as a scary, fascinating, important phenomenon.
I want to springboard this edition from one particular reader response, an extract of which is below. The reader recently found themselves enmeshed in a classic cocktail of conflict-invoking ingredients: imagine a combination of personal relationships; staying in close quarters; and each party holding different, strongly-held beliefs; and each party drawing from very different lifestyles, environments and experiences.
If anyone didn’t end up with an order of conflictails here, that would be quite the feat. You’d expect a little pour of Bloody (Hell) Mary; an Old Fashioned-views; a Gin and Toxic; or a Death in the Afternoon to boot.
The reader describes their experience as conflict inevitably emerged:
I was reminded of my teacher’s words, “Would you rather be right, or would you rather be free?” I’d rather be free. It’s certainly teaching me a lot around tolerance… …”
