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MEDIATOR/CROSS
In Thompson, Manitoba, Judy Inder is scrambling to
find daycare for her grandson, whose daycare center closed abruptly, giving
her only 24-hour notice. Inder, the guardian for her grandson pieced together
childcare that includes the boy’s father, a paid babysitter and a friend.
Her patchwork plan is good for one week, but then Inder doesn’t know what
she is going to do.
Inder isn’t alone. Seventy families are without daycare
for their children because of the center’s closure due a dispute between
management and the workers. According to Donna Hopkins, a spokesperson
for management, they are paying “90 percent [of revenues] in wages and
benefits, which only leaves 10 percent to operate the centre…”
The conflict has escalated to the point that management
has locked out the workers it looks like further negotiations have stalled
until they can find a mediator to help bring the two sides together.
—http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_daycare20040302
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson
Job 9:33 (NLT) “If only there were a mediator who
could bring us together, but there is none.”
Job 16:21 (NLT) “Oh, that someone would mediate between
God and me, as a person mediates between friends.”
MEDIATOR
In Vallejo, CA during the spring of 2011, Native Americans
camped, without a permit on a 15-acre Glen Cove site managed by the greater
Vallejo recreation district. They also used fire pits, without a permit.
However, the park officials decided not to cite them for trespass, though
they warned the handful campers to leave or to face prosecution. Instead
of leaving, their numbers swelled to nearly a hundred.
What’s all the fuss about? The recreation district
wants to develop the site to include additional bathrooms and parking.
The protestors claim that their ancestors are buried there and consider
the land “sacred.” Norman "Wounded Knee" DeoCampo, a descendant of the
Miwok Indians said, "This is a spiritual encampment, and we are going to
protect this site ... and stay here and fight for it."
The two sides were entrenched in their positions,
until a federal mediator stepped in to help. Though the issue is still
unresolved, they are talking again, and there is hope that a resolution
is forthcoming.
--http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17891650
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson
I’ve been there, haven’t you? There have been times
when I needed a mediator to help me and someone else get past a problem
that was gridlocking our relationship. Though I can’t think of many examples
where I’ve needed one in adulthood, can remember many times that my Mother
mediated a dispute between me and a sibling. Sometimes she assigned blame,
but most of the times, she simply helped us get past our problem to enable
reconciliation. Of course, I don’t mean to trivialize the problems the
good people in Vallejo are having by comparing it to a childhood squabble,
but I do know from experience that there are times in life when mediators
are necessary.
So did Job.
Job 16:21 (NLT) “Oh, that someone would mediate between
God and me, as a person mediates between friends.”
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