CONFLICT

       Do you think it would be a better world if there were not any conflicts? Our lives are full of conflicts and it does not seem that it can be permanently eliminated. On the other hand, it is undeniable that those endless conflicts helped human being to develop until today. However, this development was possible because conflicts were well managed. There are three strategies of conflict management: respecting other’s dignity and right, finding mutual benefit points and being able to adopt the perspectives of others. With these conflict managing strategies, human beings will be mutually benefited through conflicts.

           To begin with, as a human being we cannot avoid conflictions, however with the attitude of ‘respecting other’s dignity and right’ will bring better result than expected. To illustrate, black people are influencing the world in various fields of activities such as music, sports. However, all they could do was endless working and hardly anyone was treated as a human by white people just few hundred years ago. It is known that black people regained their rights through conflict against white. However, they wouldn’t able to liberate from overwhelming white’s power without few white’s mutual respect virtue. For example, Abraham Lincoln the 16^th president of America played a great role for black people’s dignity and abolition of slavery. Lincoln respected black’s rights and as a result we have come to the world where all colors living in harmony.

        Moreover, conflicts can be solved only when both opposing side’s benefits are secured. In other words finding mutual benefit points are essential to solve the conflicts because neither of the conflicting sides wants any losses. This strategy usually evokes positive outcomes. For example, Free Trade Agreement (FTA) policy was applied all over the world few years ago to set the price of the trading goods on the reasonable prices. However in the beginning of application, many countries were resisted and complained that FTA lowers their benefits and increases other’s and ended up conflicting against FTA policy. As a way to end this conflict each country and FTA decided to restrict some goods and set the standard price so all of them can satisfy on their benefits.

        For the last strategy it is adopting the perspective of others. This strategy could be a combination of first two strategies mentioned because it can both extract mutual benefits and esteem. This strategy is something which is a basis of not only solution of conflict but also in everyday communication. For example, according to the book written by famous lecturer and writer Dale Carnegie, he mentioned this strategy as a way of accumulating relationship with others. Which gives us an idea that with this attitude from little quarrel to war against countries all sorts of conflicts can be either be prevented and solved.

        In a nutshell, there are three strategies to manage conflicts; Respect other’s dignity and right, find mutual benefit points and adopt the perspective of others. Confliction certainly brought development to human but it doesn’t necessarily mean we need confliction. There is a famous maxim from Greek philosopher Socrates ‘know yourself’ it means without understanding ourselves first, it is impossible to understand other things. This attitude will minimize the confliction and amplify harmony.

NEEDS

The more comfortable our lives become the more eager of satisfiaction was persued by human beings. As a result of this eager human beings finally came up the term ‘need’. These days, for average person, their needs would the ‘safety needs’. However, needs are differ by person’s social status and classe. In other words the more luxurious a person’s life is the more likely the individuals will seek needs, such as the satisfaction of mental and self-esteem; whereas, those who are less previledged would persue more basic needs for living.

To begin with, it is undeniable that those who are more previledged seek higher order of needs. Because those needs certain level of requirements. According to Maslow’s hierarachy, there are five levels of needs.  The higher levels get more complex and psychological as compared to the needs from the lower level. Those who are more previledged than others will try to acquire higher level of needs which is the satisfaction of mental and self-esteem. For example, it is not hard to find people who are previledge in many ways such as money or knowledge are doing activities such as painting, writing poem and many other things,  Even if those activities are not their hobbies they are doing this to improve individual’s quality and to be mentally stablized. These activities can hardly be found from average people’s lives. This indicates us that this types of persuing needs usually requires time and a good amount of money which is quite impossible for those who are not as previledged as mentioned ones.

However, for the other group who are referred to as ‘average’ people, they mostly seek lower level of needs and nine out of ten of those average people’s needs would be defined as ‘safety needs’. Due to increasing unemployment rates and decreasing job places, workers in the world are spending their days worrying whether if they would lose their jobs or not. They somehow abandon their rights to improve their quality, they decide to prepare for the worst circumstances. As a result, they cannot spend their money and time for their own needs but for their basic needs of living such as food, clothes and mosty importantly ‘Secured’ tomorrow. For example, according to the survey, average people save most of their incomes preparing for their future but hardly spend any for leisures and entertainment. This result tells us that social status is deciding one’s quality of life as well.

In a nutshell, people who are more previledged usually persue psychological and inner side of satisfiaction. Unlike to them, average people’s needs are basic and much more physical needs for ‘Survival’. Although unpreviledged people could also persue higher standard of needs. There is hardly any chance for them to reach those needs because complex needs requires money and time. However, As famous utilitarian John Stewart Milton said that qualitative needs is more important than quantitative needs, people are needed to persue their needs for themselves because we are all meant to shine.