Life is funny sometimes ...

I have to begin this post by noting that a few months ago, for a variety of reasons I began referring to myself as "Goat Boy" ... this morning that reference took an deliciously ironic turn for me ...

Over the last two days I've been fortunate to attend a course in Winnipeg on Conflict Resolution. During the sessions we've looked at the dynamics of healthy conflict and how a just, honest and open resolution can be attained ...

The first criterion of such an outcome is a commitment by ALL parties to engaging in the "conflict" with honesty and openness and MOST of ALL a willingness to find a solution.

It was interesting over the two days how I found myself reflecting back on conflicts I have been a part of and how I WOULD do things very differently given what I know about myself now subsequent to my journey in recent weeks ... It was equally interesting to consider how many of the conflict situations I have found myself enmeshed in have escalated because the OTHER parties were unwilling to engage in open, honest and direct communication - it has been easier for some to bad mouth me behind my back, then to say it TO ME. (I can point to one marvelous woman in this community who has ALWAYS arrived on my doorstep when she has an issue with me - and though I'm not sure where she stands in regards to me and my ministry here - I value her candor, her bluntness and her HONESTY !!!)

But as we worked our way through the sessions I realized much about my journey and the mistakes I've made ... I also realized the attempts at "mediation" were non-starters because one party (not me) wasn't interested in mediation, only retaliation, and the mediator skipped some VITAL and CRUCIAL steps in the mediation process and failed to consider the possibilities of toxicity and illness in the equation. (my ADD was absolutely a factor - and it was MISSED !!! and there are other illness factors too !!!)

Last night as I returned to my Hotel room I settled on the bed with my copy of Rene Girard's book "The Scapegoat"

The Scapegoat is a seminal study of collective violence in human society. Girard's thesis is (in a very small nutshell) that communities and any form of collective gathering of humans requires at some juncture as victim to bear the sins and the misdeeds of the whole. He uses the myth of Oedipus and the example of the Jewish Scapegoat to illustrate his idea ...

The scapegoat in Jewish custom was a goat, who periodically was loaded with "the sins" of the people and driven out in to the wilderness to die, thereby setting the people free of their misdeeds and allowing them to feel fresh, and clean and once again united ... Until the next year when the same process was repeated and a new goat was sacrificed ...

And so the cycle carried on year after year ... goat after goat being driven into the wilderness ...

There was never remedial action on the part of the people, and it would seem they never thought to STOP their behaviour that lead to the sacrifice of goat after goat after goat ... Theologically, the process stopped for Christians when the ultimate sacrifice was paid by the death of Jesus and we were set free of our sins once and for all ...

Unfortunately for all of the Goats out there ... the sins continued, and SOMEONE HAS TO BE BLAMED ... someone has to be rejected and driven away ... someone has to take the fall ...

When a crisis or conflict hits it is ALWAYS easier to dump EVERYTHING on the goat, than to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions ... and THAT, according to Girard, will never change until we open our eyes and see it for ourselves ...

In the meantime, more Goats have to die ...

Some days it's hard to be a goat ...

"Nnnnaaaahhhh ... Nnnnaaaaahhhh !!!!!!!"