Alex my mate often quotes this statement – where 2 or 3 are gathered, there will be trouble. He was quoting George Verwer, the vivacious founder and leader of Operations Mobilisation.
I met him a couple of times – he was (and remains) an infectiously focused and driven person. Both times I met him he had this jacket on, which is as gaudy as anything I have ever seen but it was a jacket which left such a lasting impression so that years later, I could still recall the key messages of bringing the gospel to all corners of the earth. That jacket had a world map on it. In fact it looked like the whole jacket was made out of a big world map.
Where there is people there will be trouble. The other Alex I like is Ferguson. He once said Dennis Wise – that prickly one time Chelsea man (pre-Abramovich days) – could start a fight in a room all by himself. In the gospel according to Sir Alex Ferguson where 1 is present, there will be trouble. That is an even more damning view of man than the view of George Verwer.
I didn’t think George was referring to the inherently bad nature of man so much as providing a context for understanding conflict and how to resolve it. To him, conflict is not to be seen as an abnormal part of a relationship. The opposite is true – ie conflict follows wherever men choose to embark on anything together.
I don’t think by the way, that Sir Alex cares too much about the philosophy of conflict either – he was just talking about Dennis Wise, and possibly explaining why a United player may have had an argy bargy with that little prickly twit.
Thankfully most of us are no where near as volatile as Dennis the Unwise. Even then, we aren’t far from conflicts.
Conflicts however, can often be avoided. Communication is often a key. If parties had communicated well, effectively and in a timely manner, many issues can be resolved without escalation into conflict mode. If only we take the trouble to communicate properly.
Ante 