Sides

Is it true that neither side of a conflict tends to be right?

A person leaving a meeting aimed at conflict resolution shouldn't need to stop and grapple with the reasons why both they and the people who mistreated them so long were both seen as wrong.

A new Christian may soon find that part of the Christian life involves helping people resolve conflicts. A key concept to remember involves avoiding a misunderstanding that has become popular in modern times that neither side of a conflict is right. The misunderstanding is related to how people have tried to deconstruct the concept of good and evil. While it can happen that both sides are wrong, it shouldn't be assumed that neither side can be right or more right.

The idea that neither side tends to be right can be related to observations that both sides may end up acting in ways they shouldn't. However, that doesn't mean that one side isn't right in terms of their position in the conflict and how they try to maintain their behavior most of the time. If someone is often bullied, for example, there may be a few times when they finally say what they shouldn't about someone else, but that doesn't mean that both they and the people who regularly bully them are just two sides of the same coin in the conflict.

A person leaving a meeting aimed at conflict resolution shouldn't need to stop and grapple with the reasons why both they and the people who mistreated them so long were both seen by the arbiter as wrong. There are times when one side needs to be defended or supported in a conflict. While an open-minded inspection of each case should be made, it isn't open-minded to always assume afterward that neither side was really right.