As mediators, we need to recognize that while people act in ways we call good and bad, these categories have no existence in nature. They are polarities, like up and down, hot and cold, forward and backward, that cannot exist or be thought of without their opposites. Human nature is not fixed or eternal, but changes with culture and conditions. No two parties are alike, no two conflicts are alike, no two mediators are alike, and no one is the same from one moment to the next. What succeeds for one mediator with one party at one moment may fail for another mediator with a different party or at a different moment. What is needed is not proscription, but skill, intuition, flexibility, and the ability to be dangerously honest and empathetic.
Kenneth Cloke, Mediating Dangerously - The Frontiers of Conflict Resolution
