Anti-Social Media

For all the negative effects of social media, there was a good one recently. A most wanted guy, not by females but by the law, was finally caught by his post.

Mediation is keeping up with the times, too. The usual road to litigation now has an alternative route toward conflict resolution.

Me-dating

Talking with a client for psychological testing on an annulment case, I somehow had an idea how it came to this.  As he was from out-of-town, I  was awaiting my plane ticket as arranged by his friend.

Question 1: Why was he paying for my fare? Answer- he could fly to Manila instead.

Question 2: Why am I staying overnight in a hotel? Fine, he can undergo the rigorous testing the whole day, so I will just fly in early morning and leave in the evening.

Question 3: Why would he be paying for his wife's testing?To be fair to both parties and if she is around and willing to be tested, that would make for a stronger case. But usually, only one party offers to be tested, in which case we send a letter to the other party for due notice and invitation. In lieu of testing the other party, we interview persons who knew the couple to get a total picture. If he wishes, we could ask his wife to shoulder her testing fee. Whew!

Truly beyond mediation! Hopefully, testing ensues next week.

Tie One, Tie Another

Taiwan is getting to be a peacemaker in the region. Reuters reports that after its successful sharing of marine life with Japan in 2012, Taiwan now suggests that South China Sea "claimants to temporarily shelve their disagreements to enable negotiations on sharing resources."

Truly, you cannot shake hands with each other if both of you are holding weapons toward the other. Taiwan is showing the way to mediation.

Live Evil

On the Movie Channel, "Little Children" had interwoven suburban subplots, one of which involved a pervert. He was harassed, featured in a "Is your child safe?" flyer posted on his door, and shooed out of the community pool. Last straw was spray-painting EVIL downward on the tiles of his sidewalk. Upward it read LIVE. Were they enabling him instead of helping him out?

Mediation is a positive way out for the "evil" people.

Looking at Things

The Inquirer banner read "Cop caught on torture video (says): It's discipline." Some way of locking up thugs!

A ruse by any name smells just as bad. Not mediation material, definitely.

Odd Couple II

Twas a remake-able Saturday. In the evening, the "Odd Couple" was a pleasant surprise! As usual, nothing beats the original. Lines were as witty, though. Oscar, having his taxes done by Felix, commented to his ex-wife,"We wrecked our marriage. Let's not wreck our divorce," in their at-tempt at reconciliation.

Either they cannot leave well enough alone, or stumble from one impulsive behavior to another. Themes all to familia-r in mediation.

Alfie II

Caught its remake with Jude Law, a younger Michael Caine. In this movie, he was likewise dumped for a younger man. The theme is, of course the same.  "What's it all about?"  It was further clarified with his excuse, "Didn't mean to hurt anybody" to which the wise old man admonished, "Think before unzipping." Could not be clearer than that!

These are the stuff keeping mediators busy- male-female, and now male-male/female-female relationships in and out of marriage. All's fine, too, in the end, hopefully.

Times A-changing

Inquirer reported that "Kamikaze shrines in Mabalacat draw Japanese tourists." Maybe they are saying, "Kami kasi ito." Who would have thought in the 1940s that this was possible?

Indeed, time heals all wounds, physically more so. Mediation is another step in that direction.

Con-Tempt

The Senate detention chamber cannot accommodate all the B-Inay! contemptees who did not appear when summoned by the Blue Ribbon Committee. The overflow will go to the Pasay City Jail.

While tempting, evasion of responsibility is never a good thing.  That is true in mediation, too.

Mediator Electorate

Combinations like Grace-Mar or Chiz make me reflect that we, the voters mediate among all these interested parties. Hopefully, we do so mindfully and not hands full of paper bills. The common good should be the ultimate winner, as it is supposed to be, not the common-looking candidate.