“We are living today in tomorrow’s world with yesterday’s ideas.” Milovan Djalas. Bitterly trying to get disputes resolved in our favor through shortcut methods and brute force, with total disregard to the due process of law and regrettably forgetting our traditional, time-tested age old values inherited from our forefathers should be avoided at all cost. There must be another way to have a confident and peaceful future for the younger generation, through transformation. The vital transformation is possible, provided we are prepared to act civilized and wisely, adequately responding to these crises, with clarity of thought, steadfast moral courage, integrity, love and truth.
The best option to resolve such crises is Conflict Transformation. Conflict transformation means to transform the beliefs and behaviors of the persons involved in a serious issue of strong disagreement by looking at it with absolute truth, love and justice, through honest acceptance of blame rather than blaming the opposite party(s). Thereby the parties in dispute can come out with lasting, better and safer solutions, best for their future. This is possible with absolutely truthful people or people open enough to accept the truth, wanting to see the best outcome for everyone, in any given situation without being selfish, to meet the higher callings.
Often in a dispute we also opt for Conflict Resolution. Conflict resolution can mean formal statement of an opinion agreed on by a committee(s) especially by means of a vote of majority or reasons established through discussions and debates. It is an act of solving a dispute through legalities and peaceful means. However in this conflict resolution the quality of the resolution is not always good enough as the powerful party in the dispute may manipulate the issue with all their diplomatic capabilities or might and their opponents are often left helpless, even though they may be right. And the matter ends up in frustration.
The worst that can happen in a dispute is Conflict Suppression. To put a conflict to an end often by brute force or to ignore and suppress the strong disagreement without proper settlement by the stronger group is conflict suppression. This conflict suppression is the worst amongst the three options and it seems to have become a part of our Naga culture today, in any dispute. It is high time that we become broad minded and capable to think beyond our own boundaries, having concern for other’s problems, fears, hopes and future and not just be shamelessly selfish to only think of our own interest, agendas and schemes.
“If you want anything for yourself everything goes wrong in whatever you do” Mrs Doe Peter Howard. The greatest security of a person is the goodwill of his neighbor. However the problem in the neighborhood is greed for boundary extension for self interest that continues the act of depredation of integrity, trust and goodwill of our neighbors. Because of these actions we have already lost many of our mission fields. Now we can be sure that people will no longer listen to us, neither trust us nor follow us. Do you agree with me that almost everything is going wrong today in our society as Mrs Doe Peter Howard said?
We must learn that wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. And right is right even if nobody is doing it. “Man is a reed but he is a thinking reed” Blaise Pascal. “A life that is not examined is not worth living” Socrates. We have to adequately apply and respond with our priceless thinking reed to examine our actions in life. If there should be any wrong or falsehood within us, let us be honest and admit our own wrong, instead of hiding it and pointing our fingers at our neighbors. Then only, life is worth living as Socrates said. The problem with our neighborhood is that we do not see ourselves the way our neighbors see us, not realizing that the greatest ignorance is not to be aware of one’s ignorance.
Has the so-called civilization in our society today, as we understand it, made man only busier, more materialistic, and ruthlessly selfish and not necessarily better? This indeed is a puzzling and perplexing dilemma. Yes, materially we are better today but at a great price in human terms and values. We can be very rich and powerful in our brute force but equally cheap, arrogant, corrupt and dirty, negativities that will destroy us in the long run. Then what is the use of such capabilities and potentialities. Should Christianity be confined only within the walls of our churches or do we treat God as a use-and-throw commodity, making ourselves part-time or drama Christians? To be Christians means to live with Christ’s teaching in our day-to-day life. Conversion to Christianity does not begin from heaven or hell, but from this very world. If we claim to be Christians, the Christian principle should be applied in our life including our land disputes, workplaces, business, social gatherings and celebrations. Mind that Satan is in all the details and so is God. “His eyes are on the ways of men; He sees their every step.” Job 34:21
“A nation’s thinking is in ruin before their cities, towns and economy are in ruins. You can plan a new society and a new world on paper but you have to build with new people… He who lacks integrity always betrays his people and nation” Frank Buckman said. One can’t live crooked with hatred, bitterness, rampant corruption and think straight or be upright. Let’s pin point the crookedness in us, convert and uproot that in our society in the interest of peace, love and justice. In my own life, my ability to relate to people of any nation or community was enhanced by my finding an answer to my bitterness against India but that was without any decrease or compromise in my commitment to our people. Earlier consuming hatred denied me any chance of relating well with people. So much so that I insisted on continuing court proceedings against a poor Hindu Brahmin tailor at Pune in 1982 – 83 who had abused me but was later repentant but I did not let up. So I ended up with one forever un-mended relationship, to my great regret today. Learning to say sorry when needed, speaks volumes of one’s greatness and not weakness.
Have we reached to the dangerous point of ‘the land time-bombs’? Many people have sold out all their land. They think that their only alternative survival is in the forest lands. We know that there are no proper boundaries fixed and demarcated between the neighboring villages thereby resulting in boundary disputes everywhere. But to maintain and promote unity, foster brotherhood, engender fellow feeling for better understanding, co-operation and goodwill amongst the neighborhood is much more important and valuable than snatching a piece of jungle land by the use of brute force. That is a bigger challenge than inciting conflict.
It is not the land and physical power of brute force that makes a man. Let us live to care for and look beyond ourselves to the needs of our neighbors. Be gentle and good to our neighbors to the point that they cannot deny us. This way, life is fair and secure at the end. Trust and act on it.
Life favors the humble and dedicated. The more we give to life, the more life sends back is the God given natural law. “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” Hosea 14:9. We have seen many people stumble, gone and forgotten, let’s not follow their path, but make a drastic decision right now to have hope and a peaceful future, to see happiness in the eyes of the younger generation for the days to come.
Looking at the visionless, instant gratification and get-rich-quick culture of our society, we find that it is degrading our values. This is coupled with hypocrisy of some leaders, their dirty schemes, lackadaisical app roach to law and order, discipline, honesty, sincerity and purity, love, rampant corruption, extortion, fratricides, etc.
Some of our leaders today are excellent preachers but there is a big gap between the way they talk and live. Exemplary life needed to resolve any given crises is not seen in their life. It would be a happy response if we are able to declare that we love our neighbors as ourselves, that we love God, our country and people since we claim to be a Christian State. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means building of beautiful relationships, trust and goodwill of neighbor, accepting and practicing the principle of making other people great and caring for them.
It never means to behave as if we are the best and most worthy persons, seizing every opportunity without being bothered for our neighbors as is practiced today. “Is God or other people around me –the centre of my life or am I the centre in whatever I do?” Why are we all so selfish? Let us examine ourselves with deep self-introspection, search ourselves through and through and analyze every undue situation caused by our wrong actions. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” Martin Luther King Jr. Let’s not be silent when wrong things are committed in our neighborhood so that our lives may not begin to end.
Many a time, the winner stands alone. The objective of taking a courageous stand by the winner alone is to meet challenges rather than prolonged indecision. Responsibility and prompt action go together. Any good idea may die unless it is acted upon in time. The latent knowledge or the gospel truth if not used, always fades away from such a person. Are you afraid of being alone for the right cause?
Let our self interest be replaced by mutual interest to create a win-win situation. Let ego or prestige driven culture be converted into gentleness and fair-play to remake our world, so that we may have a confident and a peaceful future for the upcoming generations. “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17. Be worthy of blessings and be blessed.
(The above articles was an exhortation by Kuolachalie Seyie, Secy. Finance APO at the Standing Committee of Tenyimi People’s Organization (TPO) on Land Disputes held at on 17th May 2011 at 11 am at TPO’s Office Kohima, Nagaland)
The best option to resolve such crises is Conflict Transformation. Conflict transformation means to transform the beliefs and behaviors of the persons involved in a serious issue of strong disagreement by looking at it with absolute truth, love and justice, through honest acceptance of blame rather than blaming the opposite party(s). Thereby the parties in dispute can come out with lasting, better and safer solutions, best for their future. This is possible with absolutely truthful people or people open enough to accept the truth, wanting to see the best outcome for everyone, in any given situation without being selfish, to meet the higher callings.
Often in a dispute we also opt for Conflict Resolution. Conflict resolution can mean formal statement of an opinion agreed on by a committee(s) especially by means of a vote of majority or reasons established through discussions and debates. It is an act of solving a dispute through legalities and peaceful means. However in this conflict resolution the quality of the resolution is not always good enough as the powerful party in the dispute may manipulate the issue with all their diplomatic capabilities or might and their opponents are often left helpless, even though they may be right. And the matter ends up in frustration.
The worst that can happen in a dispute is Conflict Suppression. To put a conflict to an end often by brute force or to ignore and suppress the strong disagreement without proper settlement by the stronger group is conflict suppression. This conflict suppression is the worst amongst the three options and it seems to have become a part of our Naga culture today, in any dispute. It is high time that we become broad minded and capable to think beyond our own boundaries, having concern for other’s problems, fears, hopes and future and not just be shamelessly selfish to only think of our own interest, agendas and schemes.
“If you want anything for yourself everything goes wrong in whatever you do” Mrs Doe Peter Howard. The greatest security of a person is the goodwill of his neighbor. However the problem in the neighborhood is greed for boundary extension for self interest that continues the act of depredation of integrity, trust and goodwill of our neighbors. Because of these actions we have already lost many of our mission fields. Now we can be sure that people will no longer listen to us, neither trust us nor follow us. Do you agree with me that almost everything is going wrong today in our society as Mrs Doe Peter Howard said?
We must learn that wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. And right is right even if nobody is doing it. “Man is a reed but he is a thinking reed” Blaise Pascal. “A life that is not examined is not worth living” Socrates. We have to adequately apply and respond with our priceless thinking reed to examine our actions in life. If there should be any wrong or falsehood within us, let us be honest and admit our own wrong, instead of hiding it and pointing our fingers at our neighbors. Then only, life is worth living as Socrates said. The problem with our neighborhood is that we do not see ourselves the way our neighbors see us, not realizing that the greatest ignorance is not to be aware of one’s ignorance.
Has the so-called civilization in our society today, as we understand it, made man only busier, more materialistic, and ruthlessly selfish and not necessarily better? This indeed is a puzzling and perplexing dilemma. Yes, materially we are better today but at a great price in human terms and values. We can be very rich and powerful in our brute force but equally cheap, arrogant, corrupt and dirty, negativities that will destroy us in the long run. Then what is the use of such capabilities and potentialities. Should Christianity be confined only within the walls of our churches or do we treat God as a use-and-throw commodity, making ourselves part-time or drama Christians? To be Christians means to live with Christ’s teaching in our day-to-day life. Conversion to Christianity does not begin from heaven or hell, but from this very world. If we claim to be Christians, the Christian principle should be applied in our life including our land disputes, workplaces, business, social gatherings and celebrations. Mind that Satan is in all the details and so is God. “His eyes are on the ways of men; He sees their every step.” Job 34:21
“A nation’s thinking is in ruin before their cities, towns and economy are in ruins. You can plan a new society and a new world on paper but you have to build with new people… He who lacks integrity always betrays his people and nation” Frank Buckman said. One can’t live crooked with hatred, bitterness, rampant corruption and think straight or be upright. Let’s pin point the crookedness in us, convert and uproot that in our society in the interest of peace, love and justice. In my own life, my ability to relate to people of any nation or community was enhanced by my finding an answer to my bitterness against India but that was without any decrease or compromise in my commitment to our people. Earlier consuming hatred denied me any chance of relating well with people. So much so that I insisted on continuing court proceedings against a poor Hindu Brahmin tailor at Pune in 1982 – 83 who had abused me but was later repentant but I did not let up. So I ended up with one forever un-mended relationship, to my great regret today. Learning to say sorry when needed, speaks volumes of one’s greatness and not weakness.
Have we reached to the dangerous point of ‘the land time-bombs’? Many people have sold out all their land. They think that their only alternative survival is in the forest lands. We know that there are no proper boundaries fixed and demarcated between the neighboring villages thereby resulting in boundary disputes everywhere. But to maintain and promote unity, foster brotherhood, engender fellow feeling for better understanding, co-operation and goodwill amongst the neighborhood is much more important and valuable than snatching a piece of jungle land by the use of brute force. That is a bigger challenge than inciting conflict.
It is not the land and physical power of brute force that makes a man. Let us live to care for and look beyond ourselves to the needs of our neighbors. Be gentle and good to our neighbors to the point that they cannot deny us. This way, life is fair and secure at the end. Trust and act on it.
Life favors the humble and dedicated. The more we give to life, the more life sends back is the God given natural law. “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” Hosea 14:9. We have seen many people stumble, gone and forgotten, let’s not follow their path, but make a drastic decision right now to have hope and a peaceful future, to see happiness in the eyes of the younger generation for the days to come.
Looking at the visionless, instant gratification and get-rich-quick culture of our society, we find that it is degrading our values. This is coupled with hypocrisy of some leaders, their dirty schemes, lackadaisical app roach to law and order, discipline, honesty, sincerity and purity, love, rampant corruption, extortion, fratricides, etc.
Some of our leaders today are excellent preachers but there is a big gap between the way they talk and live. Exemplary life needed to resolve any given crises is not seen in their life. It would be a happy response if we are able to declare that we love our neighbors as ourselves, that we love God, our country and people since we claim to be a Christian State. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means building of beautiful relationships, trust and goodwill of neighbor, accepting and practicing the principle of making other people great and caring for them.
It never means to behave as if we are the best and most worthy persons, seizing every opportunity without being bothered for our neighbors as is practiced today. “Is God or other people around me –the centre of my life or am I the centre in whatever I do?” Why are we all so selfish? Let us examine ourselves with deep self-introspection, search ourselves through and through and analyze every undue situation caused by our wrong actions. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” Martin Luther King Jr. Let’s not be silent when wrong things are committed in our neighborhood so that our lives may not begin to end.
Many a time, the winner stands alone. The objective of taking a courageous stand by the winner alone is to meet challenges rather than prolonged indecision. Responsibility and prompt action go together. Any good idea may die unless it is acted upon in time. The latent knowledge or the gospel truth if not used, always fades away from such a person. Are you afraid of being alone for the right cause?
Let our self interest be replaced by mutual interest to create a win-win situation. Let ego or prestige driven culture be converted into gentleness and fair-play to remake our world, so that we may have a confident and a peaceful future for the upcoming generations. “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17. Be worthy of blessings and be blessed.
(The above articles was an exhortation by Kuolachalie Seyie, Secy. Finance APO at the Standing Committee of Tenyimi People’s Organization (TPO) on Land Disputes held at on 17th May 2011 at 11 am at TPO’s Office Kohima, Nagaland)
