Negotiating With The Wolf
Prof. Joseph Allegretti wrote an interesting article ten years ago titled A Christian Perspective on Alternative Dispute Resolution, 28 Fordham Urb. L.J. 997 (2001). In it he tells the tale of St. Francis of Assisi’s mediating a conflict between the residents of a town and a ravenous wolf that was terrorizing them, “devouring both animals and human beings.”
The story contains an interesting reminder of the Christian tradition of self-interested forgiveness, and also of the principle (espoused by all mediator trainers) that everybody has an underlying interest that informs their behavior — even (or especially) wolves.
And it describes an unorthodox method of mediation in which the neutral starts off by telling each party that they’re schmucks. Read more »