Neutral Advocacy
I refer to Neutral Advocacy as the actualized transformative voice of peacemakers engaged in effecting peace in the midst of conflict. The following story illustrates the transformative nature of Neutral Advocacy. The story embodies the African philosophy “Ubuntu”, which means "I am because you are". Ubuntu recognizes the shared essence within humanity and life.
There were two farmers whose houses were situated directly across from one another with a dirt road running between them. One farmer always dressed in red and raised flowers. The other farmer always dressed in blue and was a keeper of bees. While they had lived across from one another on their farms all of their lives, neither spoke a single word to the other. Each saw the other as a rival in the village market, despite the fact that one grew flowers, and the other tended bee hives and harvested honey. Each wished the other bad fortunate in their endeavors even though their own survival was dependent upon the survival of the other. The understanding of their interdependence was beyond them, distorted by their lack of capacity to speak to each other, and to see the other’s perspective.
Seeing their conflict and the ill will that each harbored for the other, God decided to pay them a visit. As each farmer attended to their perceived self-interest ignoring the other, God walked down the dirt road in the middle of their two farms. Without breaking stride, God tipped a beautifully adorned hat toward each farmer, and continued walking down the dirt road. The farmers looked up at the same time, and as they caught each other’s eyes affixed on God, they realized for the first time in their lives that they were sharing community with one another. They smiled at each other and began to share their perspectives of the experience, when the farmer in red said, “Did you see the beautiful red hat adorned with flowers that God was wearing?” To this, the farmer in blue rebuffed back, “What do you mean a red hat, it was clearly a blue hat adorned with a swarm of bees.” Focused in their perceived differences in perspective, each let out a gruff, and returned to ignoring the other and harboring ill will toward the other’s endeavors.
Once again upon seeing their return to conflict and impasse, God turned around and walked back down the dirt road in the other direction, once again coming between the two farmers, and again tipping the beautifully adorned hat at each. This time each saw the other’s previously held perspective, upon which they immediately realized that the hat upon God’s head was red and adorned with flowers on one side, and blue and adorned with a swarm of bees on the other side. Upon this realization, each began to laugh uncontrollably brought on by their nervous acknowledgment of their wrong-doing to the other, and then embraced in friendship.
From this point forward the two farmers learned to cooperate and in doing so they increased their gain. Peace and prosperity became their shared destiny. Their differences became the source of their unity as opposed to being a source of division.
In this story, God advocates for neither side, but rather neutrally advocates through being the illuminated source of peace in the midst of the farmers’ conflict, so as to inspire the farmers’ realization of their shared interests beyond their perceived differences in perspective. The resolution of their impasse and underlying conflict began with their mutual acts of contrition, represented by their humility displayed in their laughter, and their mutual acts of forgiveness represented in their embrace in friendship. Conflict precedes impasse, as impasse precedes insight, as insight precedes compassion, as compassion precedes contrition, as contrition precedes forgiveness, as forgiveness precedes reconciliation, as reconciliation precedes consensus building, and as consensus building precedes sustainable peace.
There are a couple of points that I hope to illustrate in the telling of this story. First, the role of the peacemaker while passive, is nevertheless active through the uninhibited action of their natural way of being, and in being in peace, they are transformative in effecting peace beyond themselves. The peacemaker, that is, is not an absentee God in the presence of conflict, but actively illuminates the prospects for reconciliation within those in conflict through the presence of their transformative being in peace. The peacemaker does not feed fish to the hungry, but illuminates within the hungry an insight into their own ability to fish. It is for the enlightened hungry to choose to fish.
