fandomhigh | Resolving Conflict Without Violence, Wednesday First Period [Week 4]

Entry tags:

pacifism

Resolving Conflict Without Violence, Wednesday First Period [Week 4]

"Welcome back." Anne's usual smile was, perhaps, a little bit brighter than usual.

"We've spent our three weeks of class so far discussing a very specific non-violent approach to resolving conflicts: discussion. We've sought to hone our conversational skills, to improve our ability to examine our own positions, and others'. And while that will continue to be one of our primary focuses as we move forward, today we're going to discuss another tactic that's worth having in your arsenal."

She turned, writing on the board, and then stepping away with a flourish to reveal what she'd written. "Leave," she recited as she turned back to the class. "Sometimes this will be simple. In many situations, you can simply turn and walk away from whatever conflict crops up. Sometimes it will be more complicated. You may be in a location that precludes that option, such as an elevator."

Anne's smile slipped just a bit, dipping toward melancholy before recovering. "Sometimes you will find it difficult to leave because of your convictions. Because you can't simply walk away from a particular discussion even if it isn't violent. Or you may find yourself in conflict with someone who matters too much to you for you to simply walk away."

"So, before you can employ this particular technique, it's going to be important to recognize what situations you can use it in, and what situations you can't. And, as usual, the answer to that question is going to be different for each of you."

"So, today, let's take that as our topic of discussion: what sorts of situations do you feel comfortable walking away from? And, in such situations, what can change that makes you feel like you have to stay?"

"For myself, family is almost impossible to walk away from. I did do it once because I thought everyone would be better off that way, but in the end I regretted that decision. So, what about each of you?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Walking out

Merrill

Summer Smith

Family is a tough subject for Anne, but she tries not to let that be too obvious

Hopefully, no one really noticed Summer's irritated grunt at the end of Anne's lecture there, but she couldn't help it. People leaving because they think it's what's best for everyone else was a pretty sore topic for her at the moment, all things considered. God, why did people who were supposed to be smart do that, ugh.

Partner up, if you like, or feel free to engage with Anne directly. It's not like she doesn't need practice at walking away.

"The Dalish are used to walking away," Merrill offered with a shrug and a little frown. "Sometimes even before any real conflict starts, just because we know it'll be coming. Better to pack up and move on than stay and invite trouble."

Summer could have tried to keep her frustration with this sort of thing out of her voice as she discussed it, but that would be way more work than she cared to deal with that morning.

"Little, unimportant things?" she offered. "I have literally noooo problem walking away from. Like, who has time for that? Not me. But if it's important, then you better believe I'm not walking away until I've exhausted every option available to me. And, I mean, sometimes, yeah, you've tried everything, and none of it works, and then what else are you going to do but walk away, but, hey, at least you tried, and you might have even learned something in the meantime."

Edited 2017-05-31 15:18 (UTC)

Anne smiled at that answer. "In that case, aren't 'important' and 'unimportant' just another way of saying you will or won't be able to leave something? What makes a thing important or not?"

"For a lot of people, family is important. But what about friends? Acquaintances? Random people on the street? And even when it's someone important, there are probably some topics you don't care that much about, even with them."

"I think, for me," Summer mused, "it's all about asking if people are going to get hurt or not. That's when I have the most trouble walking away, especially of I know I can do something. If I can't...that's trickier, but then it's all, what good is me getting hurt trying to keep others from being hurt if it won't really help, you know?"

"That's a very rational way of looking at it," Anne nodded. "And hard for some people to do."

"Though," she added thoughtfully, "that might be because sometimes it's hard to know when you can help, and when you can't."

"True," Summer agreed, "which is why I think I always at least try, unless it's, like, obvious. Once you try, then it's easier to determine if you can do much."

"Good point. I think that, no matter how much experience you have, it can be tricky to judge just what you can do in a lot of situations."

"Though," Anne's smile turned a bit rueful, and she raied one hand to brush through her hair, "sometimes once you've tried to help, it's too late to walk away."

"Then you definitely shouldn't walk away." And just like that, something had sparked in Summer, something snapped, and she sat up in her chair, her face starting to deepen to a red closer to her hair. "If you're in that deep, there's no turning back. You can't just turn your back on people right when they need you the most. If you reach that point, guess what, you stick with it, no matter what. You can't just abandon people, no matter how hard it gets. That's not what good people do."

And if she sounded a bit sore about it and glared slightly, it was just because she couldn't let the last part of the lecture just slip out of memory. Sure, she didn't know the story, and the lady only had one arm, here, but still! It just touched way too close to home and Summer Smith was not one to hold in her emotions during a moment.

Summer certainly sounded vehement there. If that bothered Anne, she didn't give any sign of it. Instead she seemed to consider for a couple of seconds before speaking again.

"No matter the cost? To you, or those around you?"

That seemed to blow the wind right out of Summer's sails, as it hit her brain and made her blink a few times. "Well, I mean, if it gets to that point, the point of no return, then what does the cost matter? You're already balls deep, might as well go out in a blaze of glory, fight for all you've got left..."

But...did she do that? She talked a lot of stuff about sticking through with things, but was she all talk? Suddenly, all she could think about was the wedding, and it all came rushing back at her hard. The whiplash between cheering Tammy on and then being gobsmacked as she turned and shot her new husband cold in the gut. The chaos that ensued afterwards, all the screaming, the laser shots, the bug aliens dropping from the sky to gun them all down. That was a moment where they were pretty balls deep, and what did she do? She couldn't remember, to be honest. She remembered hiding behind a table. She remembered running out and hiding in the catering ship and escaping with her family. She remembered breaking down into awful sobs when it became clear that they could never go home, they could never go back, nothing would ever be the same again. But what could she have done? She didn't have a weapon, there was fire filling the room from both sides, they just keep rushing in and shooting, shooting, shooting...Being covered in worms, Tammy's cyborg mom lady choking her...

Suddenly, she couldn't breathe. Suddenly, her mind was just a mess of people dying before her eyes and her being pretty much paralyzed to do anything. Suddenly...ohmygod, was she having PTSD? What kind of bullshit was that?

So she closed her eyes, forced herself into deep, calming breaths, pinched the bridge of her nose. She was letting herself get all wound up and confused, and that was probably what they wanted. Confuse her, make her think that walking away wasn't so bad after all. The Federation had put her in this class. The Federation was trying to subdue her.

Nice try, alien assholes. Not going to happen. She might not be able to fight when you blindsided them with a surprise wedding massacre-slash-raid, but she could still fight vampires and brain sucking viruses and she could still get her grampa out of your stupid jail one day, too.

Summer sighed. This topic sucked. "Okay, so, let's say it's a choice between getting the hell out of there and saving people you care about and death? Then, okay, sure, walk away. That is probably much better. But that's, like, if there's no chance. No chance in hell you can fight and get out of there still breathing. There's always exceptions, there's always extremes, sometimes you're just....you're just...outnumbered...and scared...and there might just be a way out, so you should take it. Because everyone else is dead, and you'll be next if you don't move it. Then you can walk away..."

Then she folded her arms and sulked, perhaps a bit more than a sulk, because her desire to talk about this much more was comp-leeetely gone.

Anne watched Summer's face shift through some very complicated expressions, and it worried her. In fact, she was reaching out to gently place her hand on the girl's shoulder when she seemed to come back to herself.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should just nod and walk away.

"Too close to home?" she asked, voice almost impossibly gentle. "Want to leave it at that for now?" Because if Summer wanted to talk, well, Anne was there to listen, but if someone asked Anne if she wanted to talk? No. She wasn't ready.

"Yeah, I'm done," Summer said conclusively. And because she couldn't help the snark sometimes, especially when she was upset, she added, "I guess I'm walking away from this one while I still can..."

That didn't seem to bother Anne. She just offered Summer a nod.

"Sometimes that's the wisest course of action."

If you need her for anything

I want some sunny summer weather, dang it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Resolving Conflict Without Violence, Wednesday First Period [Week 4]

Sign In - Week 4

Re: Sign In - Week 4

Re: Sign In - Week 4

Listen to Anne talk about today's topic

Re: Listen to Anne talk about today's topic

Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Re: Discuss!

Talk to Anne

OOC

Re: OOC