“Restorative Justice is respect. Respect for all, even those who are different from us; even those who seem to be our enemies. Respect reminds us of our interconnectedness, but also of our differences … Respect insists we balance concerns for all parties. If we pursue justice as respect, we will do justice restoratively.” ...
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“Win/win is an attitude, not an outcome.” – Don Boyd, Scottish novelist.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgivenes is the attribute of the strong.” ~Mahatma Ghandi, An Authobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian author.
“To observe people in conflict is a necessary part of a child’s education. It helps him to understand and accept his own occasional hostilities and to realize that differing opinions need not imply an absence of love.” ~ Milton R. Saperstein.
“Man must evolve for all human conflict, a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr., American civil rights activist.
“The entire legal profession – lawyers, judges, law teachers – has become so mesmerized with the stimulation of the courtroom contest that we tend to forget that we ought to be healers of conflict. For many claims, trial by adversarial contest must, in time, go the way of the ancient trial by battle and blood. Our system is too painful, too destructive, and too ineffective...
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That mediation (finally) took a well-deserved bow on the international stage in June, 2011 when the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution entitled “Strengthening the role of mediation in peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution”. This resolution invited member states to optimize the use of mediation and the other tools outlined in Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter for...
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When we begin our mediation training and practice, we often hear (and speak) of the magic of mediation. When it works, it truly is wondrous. It’s easy to see why a mediator feels like a wizard with supernatural powers, enabling lambs to lie down with lions.
Once upon a time, if you could take a cup of water, put it in a box, push a button, and make that water boil — without raising the temperature inside the box — you’d have a miracle on your hands. Ditto for talking to someone, or even seeing them in real time, on the other side of the planet — or even in...
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