Re: Next Board Meeting
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:05 am
Glad to see a measured increase in civility on the 'Deck lately.
I think that many, if not most of us who visit the 'Deck, have no idea what the roots of the disputations between some of the principals who post here might be.
Nor, quite frankly (I would suspect) do we care.
Personally, I do not.
Some of these disputations appear to go back years.
As a teacher, (retired) one of the most important side functions that I felt I had was to assist with non-judgmental conflict-resolution with young people.
The negative stuff never works, and indeed often breeds more negative stuff.
Psychologists will tell us about the psychological damage inflicted exponentially outward by dysfunctional families having never-ending disputations. The collateral damage inflicted on those outside of the immediate circle of conflict can also be tremendous.
Do we have a virtual dysfunctional family sometimes here on the 'Deck? That would be for a psychologist to comment on, but it is obvious to me that some people around here need to start taking the high ground.
It takes two to have an argument, after all.
It's not that the goal would necessarily be that Utopian-like camp-fire sing-a-long that I sometimes talk about. There will never be complete agreement, much less complete consensus between people. That's not the reality.
...although sing-a-longs never hurt, either.
What we can strive for would be respect, civility, active listening, and a realization that a better Lakewood, and a better Observation Deck, will result if we pursue those intentions.
I'm not intending to lecture from a soap box here. We all can get feisty in an argument, and I'm no better than anyone else in that regard.
The trick is to avoid that argument in the first place.
At times, we seem to forget that there is a difference between an honest discussion and an argument.
If we all step back and take a breath, and realize that it's a new day in Lakewood, perhaps, as the adults whom we aspire to be, that can happen.
Back to the banjo.
I think that many, if not most of us who visit the 'Deck, have no idea what the roots of the disputations between some of the principals who post here might be.
Nor, quite frankly (I would suspect) do we care.
Personally, I do not.
Some of these disputations appear to go back years.
As a teacher, (retired) one of the most important side functions that I felt I had was to assist with non-judgmental conflict-resolution with young people.
The negative stuff never works, and indeed often breeds more negative stuff.
Psychologists will tell us about the psychological damage inflicted exponentially outward by dysfunctional families having never-ending disputations. The collateral damage inflicted on those outside of the immediate circle of conflict can also be tremendous.
Do we have a virtual dysfunctional family sometimes here on the 'Deck? That would be for a psychologist to comment on, but it is obvious to me that some people around here need to start taking the high ground.
It takes two to have an argument, after all.
It's not that the goal would necessarily be that Utopian-like camp-fire sing-a-long that I sometimes talk about. There will never be complete agreement, much less complete consensus between people. That's not the reality.
...although sing-a-longs never hurt, either.
What we can strive for would be respect, civility, active listening, and a realization that a better Lakewood, and a better Observation Deck, will result if we pursue those intentions.
I'm not intending to lecture from a soap box here. We all can get feisty in an argument, and I'm no better than anyone else in that regard.
The trick is to avoid that argument in the first place.
At times, we seem to forget that there is a difference between an honest discussion and an argument.
If we all step back and take a breath, and realize that it's a new day in Lakewood, perhaps, as the adults whom we aspire to be, that can happen.
Back to the banjo.