It Is Through Conflict We Grow

It is through conflict we grow

Human beings are tested everyday through conflict. Regardless of time and place it forms an inevitable part our daily lives. Contrary to the negative connotations that surround the lexeme and notion of conflict, more often than not it can serve as an avenue for the stimulation of development and growth in individuals and society. All of human progress can be linked to conflict. The obstacles we encounter not only have the ability to empower and strengthen us as individuals and ignite change but they can also help us to learn from our mistakes.

Conflict can be a channel for personal discovery and growth. The process of experiencing mental warfare and prevailing against such challenges can often have a profound impact upon our lives. Such an enlightening experience not only provokes us to examine our value system but to question our actions and what intrinsically defines our character – our morals, principals and beliefs, that can ignite a positive transformation. The Bali Nine pair, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan both stand as a testament to  such effects. Convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death by firing squad, the duo spent ten years in custody, left with nothing but their thoughts. The pair was deeply troubled and disturbed by their actions and needless to say their consciences suffered as a consequence. However, as time elapsed they learned to manage and conquer such inner turmoil and used their circumstances as a platform to make positive changes and undergo remarkable reformation with their lives. In the midst of all this Chan discovered God and Sukumaran his talent for fine arts. Their internal conflicts have motivated their rehabilitation and directed them to seek redemption. This is evidenced by them setting up and running a host of rehabilitation programs for fellow inmates teaching them valuable skills to help them turn their lives around. Through the experience of dealing with internal conflict, we can be strengthened and learn to grow to become better.

If man had no conflict, some of the most pivotal changes in history would have ceased to exist. Conflict is an integral part of life and has played a major role in some of the freedoms, rights and pleasures we are fortunate to have today. Flicking through the pages of history it can be seen that some of the many significant advances in human history were fuelled by wanting to be heard and for justice  to be served. Apartheid in South Africa represents a time when the government sanctioned racial discrimination. Many individuals were displaced from their homes to live in autonomous regions where they were segregated from the rest of society and often certain groups were given poor education, health and other public services. However, it was individuals such as Nelson Mandela who had an ideal which he would die for, an ideal that all individuals in South Africa would ‘live in harmony and with equal opportunities’ who  was able to bring about change and compromise. Mandela’s ANC party was able to reach compromises with the then governing Nationalist Party led by De Klerk, and an election where any individual in South Africa, no matter their skin colour, could vote. With Mandela winning, he brought about many policies that disassembled apartheid and gave rise to a much more equitable society for the people of the ‘Rainbow Nation’. However such shift in society was not easily achieved. Mandela landed into direct conflict with the government, and was jailed. However being in jail, Mandela was strengthened and matured as a result. It made him more determined to continue his battle until victory was won. He entered prison an angry rebel who believed that violent revolution was the only answer and emerged as a nonviolent peacemaker and reconciler. Though Robben Island left him damaged, without the years of self-examination and meditation — seeing positive things in his darkest hours — Mandela might never have become such a remarkable leader after he walked free. The cell gave him an opportunity to look daily into his entire conduct, to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in him. It turned him into a realist aware of the difficulty of healing the racial wounds in his country. His incarceration helped him understand that even a black president who had been denied full citizenship in his country could not let hate - even the anger that hate begot - have the last word. His fight against apartheid and racial segregation so that South Africa exists as a rainbow nation in which all people are treated equally regardless of colour highlights that conflict can be the catalyst for positive change for society and humanity. Without conflict we cannot grow as our ideas about the world around is are developed by challenging diverse viewpoints.