Pag-Cait-an

"I am Cait" is an E show on transgenders as she is the former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner. One quote in an episode: You cannot force acceptance.

So with mediation.

Locating Generosity

Nat Geo again asked who are more generous- people getting off the escalator on top or below. You guessed it- those feeling on top of the world. That is why lotto winners suddenly have more family and friends!

Sadly in mediation, the richer ones are not necessarily the more generous.

Selective Honesty

Another Nat Geo experiment dropped several wallets- supposedly  from a businessman, a firefighter and an ailing jobless man. The nearby lost-and-found counter recorded returns as follows: 7 (businessman), 7 (firefighter) and 3 (jobless). The conclusion was that honesty was not dependent on what was found but on the finder him/herself.

For those not returned, there is mediation.

Pooling Resources

Taking a cue from Rio's recycling of urine into energy to power the carnival trucks, NatGeo conducted an experiment to make swimmers get out of the pool to go to the portalets. Energy gathered powered a machine making ice cream, to which the "contributors" were welcome.

Disputants are likewise informed of the benefits of mediation.

Cheated Roces

Chit Roces says,"Tolerating bad behavior does not a lasting relationship guarantee." This she found out after being an involuntary accessory to the misdemeanors, or rather crimes  of a "trusted" maid.

Her laundrywoman finally spilled the beans and turned resident mediator.

Deadweight

That does not refer to Pacquiao now but a German-Finnish indie film featured in the Berlinale Film Festival. Interestingly, it was about a sailor who led a strike on board a container ship. While the lead star was actor Archie Alemania, the other crewmen were actual seafarers. Filming all throughout the voyage, Archie experienced their woes, like areas on ship off-limits to them. (Bayani San Diego Jr.'s Inquirer article, A seaman's life for Archie)

Just like a mediator who vicariously experiences life's misfortunes as relayed by disputants.

Lowdown

Jennifer Lopez is one busy single mom. She is on the shows American Idol, Shades of Blue and live in Las Vegas. For a woman of Puerto Rican descent, at that! She has this to say, "We limit ourselves in our minds a lot. I have battled that, as well."

Mediation is delimiting ways of dispute resolution, too.

Trampoline

It was posted on FB  for those "who jump to conclusion." Fr. Jerry Orbos had a similar take. A mother saw her daughter with two apples, and naturally expected one to be given to her. Instead, the daughter bit on both apples. The mother's doubt vanished when her daughter gave her one apple as "the sweeter one."

Mediation likewise makes disputants give each other the benefit of the doubt.

Caramba, Garamba

Garamba National Park in Africa was featured by Nat Geo Explorer on the issue of poaching for elephant tusk. Some task indeed! From helicopters, elephants are shot for their ivory!!!

Who would mediate between these poor animals and their poachers?

Changes

"Changing things is always difficult because we're always tempted to continue in the daily ho-hum way we do things." Key is "to transform what can be normal resistance in the face of change into tools for reform." This is from Cardinal Parolin, who is Pope Francis' chief collaborator. There is hope for the conservative Catholic Church!

Hopefully, judicial reform follows suit and leads to less litigation and more mediation.

Speed Dating

As if there weren't enough cases of rushed relationships, now comes speed dating. Also could be called quantity dating, because singles hop from one table to another to meet as many prospects as possible, at the sound of a buzzer. Would you believe? Like chess moves!

More future work for mediators!

When Love Begins

This movie becomes problematic when love begins to beg.

Like mediation, love is voluntary and should be on equal terms.

One-armed Technician

GMA News TV featured an inspiring documentary on the life of a worker whose arm was accidentally cut off by a machine he was using at work. Instead of becoming another street beggar, he learned to continue being productive, starting with devising his own prosthesis.

Mediation is likewise a choice between banditry and productivity.

Horrorscope

Just for kicks, compared various readings on the ox this Lunar New Year. Needed a mediator for all the conflicting predictions!

Meet the Orangu Tans

In the Animal Planet, problem-solving is simple. How to open this durian? Why, drop it.

Sometimes, mediation teaches disputants to do just that.

When I become We

 It does not refer to marriage only. Fr. Orbos also says that illness becomes wellness.

Precisely what mediation aims for.

Pang Ako Sa Yo

This ABS-CBN teleserye recently concluded, after all the reported twists, turns, upsets and resurrections. Sounds like mediation, in a long-drawn way!

The Book Thief

Set in Hitler's Germany, this feature on 2nd Avenue was about a survivor Anne Frank The girl was a daughter of communists though who was adopted by a German couple
With her love for reading, she used to sneak into the library of the town officer for  a book at a time. Caught by her friend, she claimed to just be borrowing them.

Desperate times call for desperate measures? After all, it was that officer who led the book-burning earlier.

Chateau Pucci

Actually, twas spelled Poochie, as featured in Animal Planet- canine spa, even a retirement home that would make the SSS pensioners livid!

When things go to the dogs, there is mediation to run to.

Ari-muhanan

Crazy Jhenny cartoon had a passenger picking up a peso on the jeepney stepboard. While at it, he fell off on the vehicle's sudden stop. It started his hospital payment.

Reminds one of families fighting over inheritance, only to enrich their lawyer.

Harold Sala

That is not a room but a Bible speaker on relationships. He compared a grudge and ill will  to a baby. Nurse it and it will grow.

Mediation stunts that growth.

Withering Heights

The classic Wuthering Heights complaint about not being able to exact revenge goes, "Why must God have all the satisfaction?"

Justice may be had in mediation though, to the satisfaction of the disputants.

Running Wild

Bear Grylls hosts this extreme sport show. One episode featured Kate Winslet who revealed her skill at rappelling as well as childhood experiences of being mocked for her overweight and hand-me-down clothes. She relished seeing her bully post-Titanic

Mediation is another way of comeuppance.

Dine In/Out

 Fr. Jerry Orbos attached this fast-food term to the ways of receiving the host in Holy Communion either by mouth or hand. Even the Catholic Church is keeping up with the times.

Another such update is mediation, in the judiciary.

Show Me The Murder

Cuba Gooding of the line "Show me the money" now stars as OJ Simpson in a new series.

This is a more of a Jury 101 lesson.

Legally Blind

Saw rerun of "Legally Blonde." Aristotle was quoted as saying, "Law is reason without passion." Looks like the blindfolded Lady Justice.

Mediation seeks the same.

Repeat After Me

Ellen the Generous has given birth to this other funny production. Actors are secretly prompted their lines when in different situations with unknowing others.

If only mediators could do this to disputants!

Tsinelas or Time-out

Missed who wrote this Inquirer article on the method of discipline at home as it has changed through the tears of years.

So has conflict resolution morphed these past decades.

Harm Only

Sometimes, attempts at harmony just lead to this. Fr. Jerry Orbos quotes this line from a song, "Stop, in the name of love!" Often, in its name, parents give out ICE instead- Imposition, Control, Expectation.

Mediators are likewse not to give this icy treatment to disputants, who in the end
are responsible for the settlement of their conflict.