Devotion

A Jesuit priest in the Catholic Express gave another view on devotion. It is not so much ours as it is the Lord's for us.

Mediation sees the total picture, too- both sides and the fair side.

Selfie Spots

CNN PH Trippies' hosts Jessica Zafra and Pepe Diokno had this tip re tourism from South Korea. Nothing is left to chance. There is an organized effort. Example is a viewdeck with  arrows including one pointing to the South Pole! Beside it is a sign indicating WiFi.

Mediation is likewise concerted.

Take That

Watching the Kardashians is like practicing the Desiderata. One episode had Khloe making their only brother Robert experience menstrual pain from a simulation machine.

Abusive husbands, beware!

Warmbier

He was the American student caught and tortured in North Korea, and returned to US almost cold.

This was serious mediation gone wrong. A Tom Hanks starrer depicted a successful one involving another American student in East Germany during the Cold War.

Esther

She became the second queen of King Ahasuerus in the Bible's Old Testament.  What happened to the first? Queen Vashti who "refused to come at the king's command," and appear before his guests, thus also setting a bad example, was dethroned.

Even then, social pressure had a lot to do with break-ups.

    

Moves

The military telegraphed its ban on bombing mosques in Marawi.  Won't they became places of refuge for the Mautes?

Mediation is not warfare. Each side precisely reveals its plan to the other. Only way for it to succeed.

Jeff Wise

Not a fairy tale character but a real Science Journalist of HISTORY. In one feature of Engineering Disasters, he broached the idea that trains run without human hands. Divine would be best but Mr.Wise suggested the alternative, something like an auto-engineer.

But even those have to be programmed by human minds. Mediation is like that. Instead of the usual route of litigation, conflict resolution can pass the creative path of compromise.

Kind

In the cable movie Swallows and Amazons, a child described an elder as very kind. Yeah, someone retorted, the wrong kind.

Compromise agreements have to be likewise clear and not subject to misinterpretation.

ADD WIFI

DOTR taketh away internet usage on EDSA while DICT giveth it in MRT stations to stave off a revolution of the commuters.

What gives? Is there an invisible boundary between the road and the station? It's like two disputants canceling each other's gain.

In-dependence, non-celebration

It was meaningful that DU30 did just that last June12 as for once, he was true. Leaning on China and Russia, while spurning EU and US aid, then taking a U-turn on the latter, capped by US providing technical aid in Marawi. No wonder, he was tired and ashamed!

Mediation is the empowering route for disputants.