“You are all so much nicer than I am.” We had added a new mediator to our roster who had mostly court mediation experience. I answered, “We are following the facilitative mediation process.

Rain has been around a lot longer than humans. Sun, too. As long as our species has existed there has been weather, and people have found lots of different ways to handle it.

It’s rough out there. Wars, atrocities, mass shootings, global warming, toxic polarization, free-floating anger and anxiety. As I talk to people around me, I find many are distracted and off-center.

The misunderstandings, assumptions and judgments between generations cause some real conflicts. It is natural for people to believe the way they were raised, the time they grew up and the standards they considered as the norm are superior to other generations’ ways of being. Just like my grandmother and her hand-cranked dryer, it is hard to adopt to new ways.

When my grandmother handed me the wet clothes and told me to “put them through the wringer,” I had no idea what to do. “Go ahead, don’t dawdle. Get those clothes done.”

This month I ask you to get out your reading glasses and absorb some new ideas from various authors. I’d like to introduce you to writers who are expanding knowledge in the field of conflict resolution and connected topics. Happy reading!

My son grew up in Brooklyn; he was and is a city kid. Our block was idyllic, with kids running in and out of each other’s houses—parents talking across low iron fences.

It was a meeting of the second-, third- and fourth-grade teachers. About 1986. I, in my late 20s, and my colleagues more than two decades older, as was the principal who had called the unusual meeting. In those days we never had meetings—we came in, did our job, left at 3 pm.

The one-lane wooded road was bumpy and rutted. Fifteen miles an hour was about top speed.

The movie theater was dark and cool on a warm day. I was a little tentative meeting my new romantic interest’s sister for the first time. The movie was already a big deal, but it hadn’t been on my radar.