Warum Mediation im Konflikt zwischen Terri Schiavos Ehemann und ihren Eltern prinzipiell möglich wäre - und warum sie nicht stattfindet:
As a society we don’t appear ready to allow ourselves to think or act in ways that encourage negotiation as a preferred mode of conflict management and it remains an afterthought. As Americans, we still dislike negotiation; God knows John Wayne would never negotiate---it’s a sign of weakness. Worse still, especially in this matter, negotiation carries an immoral taint, that is for some associated with the work of Satan, whose primary modus operandi is to “negotiate for your soul.”
Eventually, negotiation and mediation will be more readily available by design, for families in the health care system to deal with not only end of life decsions, but many other wrenching and difficult matters. Painfully, the Schiavo matter points up not only that we should be better about health care planning, but as well, the need to understand that no planning is full proof and there will always be the necessity to negotiate our way out of confused situations. And, the more complex the matter, emotionally, financially, legally, and in every other way, the more negotiation will be obligated. We have overlooked, resisted and failed to teach this fundamental skill set for too long. Our next task as a culture is to recognize the limits of law to solve the more complex problems of living and to garner the personal and moral strength to appreciate that we must arm ourselves with the skills to negotiate not only in our lives but for our deaths. We have to strip from the Devil his most potent skill and use it for good. He negotiates to take our souls, we need to learn to negotiate to save a soul or two. God knows Congress can't save souls. As best I can figure, if a soul is to be saved it is only done by how we treat each other as human beings in the most difficult circumstances.
Robert Benjamin on mediate.com
