Aired Sunday 11/11/12
Danaan Perry, an international mediator, taught that conflict simply IS.
During a class on conflict resolution, a man verbally attacked Danaan Perry. "You're making me bored!" the man yelled. "I could teach this workshop. Hell, anybody could teach this workshop!" Danaan paused. "So you think I'm making you bored?" "YES!" the man yelled. Danaan continued the workshop. When anther participant challenged Danaan, asking why he didn't resolve the conflict, he smiled. "We are in conflict. Conflict simply is." Later, when Danaan described how most people move from intensity to conflict to create intimacy, the angry man's eyes filled with tears. He recognized that he had followed that same path with two wives, one of whom had left him. He saw he had followed this familiar path with Danaan, trying to develop intimacy by instigating conflict.