“Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict — alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence.”
― Dorothy Thompson
Fortunately, no obstacle that appeared before me during my time as a Leadership Consultant involved breaking up fights. Rather, my co-workers and I dealt with conflicts in scheduling and planning. The entire LEAD team is made up of individuals who are incredibly compassionate and considerate of all around them. We avoided conflict by simply being who we were innately.
During workshops at Hampton Middle School, however, there were times it appeared that conflicts may have arisen. 6th grade is a tumultuous time. There’s puberty. The pressure to fit in. The resistance to authority. Sometimes that manifested in unkind words or actions between students. With our participants, it was best to remind them of how they would want to be treated and how we expected them to treat one another.