COMMON GROUND

Many years ago, I had the privilege of teaming with a group of individuals representing disparate viewpoints. We lived on an island and needed to modernize aspects of the public schools. Though various plans were proposed, it seemed whatever met the needs of one group thwarted the interests of another.
 
A process was devised to find a solution that balanced the diverse perspectives. A task team was created, comprised of individuals representing each group of stakeholders: labor, management, teacher, parent, etc. The team was charged with developing a solution ALL its members found agreeable. A plan would be approved only by100% consensus, not by majority vote.  
 
Our first step toward that goal was working together to discover beliefs and values with which we all agreed: to find our common ground.
 
A glance at the CASEL SEL Framework reveals that the success of this approach (which was successful!) required team members with highly developed Relationship Skills.

In this month’s spotlighted story, THE FORT, two children lay claim to the same location: 
an old tree fort in their neighborhood woods.
Will they each stand their ground, or find common ground?

Each child believes the fort to be their own special place. For the boy, it is a castle, and he is a prince. For the girl, it is a pirate ship, and she is captain.
 
One day, prince leaves out his written plan for a royal feast. When he returns the next day, he finds a treasure map scribbled on the other side of it, and an eyepatch on the floor. A pirate has invaded his castle! The prince searches for more evidence of the pirate. Whatever he finds, he throws out of his castle.
 
When the prince is gone, the pirate returns. She trips over a crown. A prince has raided her ship! She swabs the decks, getting rid of anything royal.
 
Soon the prince and pirate encounter each other. The prince bans the pirate from the castle. “If you don’t stay out, I will put you in the dungeon!” The pirate refuses to abandon her ship. “If you don’t leave, I’ll make you walk the gangplank!”
 
The story pivots when the angry prince mocks the idea of living on a “stinky” pirate ship. “I’d rather go to the moon!”
 
Suddenly, the girl imagines exploring space, rather than the seven seas. The boy imagines commanding a mission, rather than a kingdom. They become fellow astronauts. Now the wooden boards that formed the castle’s “drawbridge” and the ship’s “gangplank” are their spacecraft’s “hatch.” Soon, they’ve gone through their preparations, strap in, and start the countdown. Which, meaningfully, ends not with division, but unity: