Dealing with Conflicts - Research Paper Example

Paper outline 0 Introduction 2.0 The Tell-Tale Heart Story 3.0 Krapp’s Last Tape Story 4.0 Rwanda Genocide and Other Related Cases 5.0 Conclusion and recommendation Dealing with Trauma and Conflicts 1.0 Introduction People are known to be emotional beings that are affected by their, other beings, their environment and the circumstances that they find themselves in from time to time. Some events that people encounter may change their lives forever depending on how they respond to the circumstance. The character that people have may be as a result of a set of events that they have come by throughout their life time. These characters are formed from past experiences and they shape the way a person thinks, feels and acts. This paper takes a look at some classical and modern examples of stories that relate to how people arrive at situations that bring about psychological trauma or conflict and how they react to these situations. 2.0 The Tell-Tale Heart Story In a short story by Edgar Allan Poe titled The Tell-Tale Heart which is a horror story as well as a psychological thriller told from a first-person perspective. The main character, who is also the narrator of the story, is a man who is constantly nervous and he claims to be sane even though the rest of the world views him as an insane person. He insists that his disease has made him more alert by sharpening his senses rather than make them dull. He believes that his senses are heightened to the point that he could hear all things in heaven, earth and even hell. The narrator talks of an old man whom he loved and who had done him no wrong, ever. But, there was something about that old man that drove the narrator crazy every time and, this happened to be the old man’s pale blue eye that had a film over it. The narrator describes this eye as the eye of a vulture that made his blood run cold whenever it looked at him. This old man’s pale blue eye was the thing that the narrator could live with let alone stand and so he made it his mission to destroy the eye of a vulture. The only way the narrator thought of doing away with the old man’s eye was by ending the life of the old man. To point out that he is not mad, he lets the audience know how well and wisely he had planned to kill the old man. He points out that he was kind to the old man during the entire week that he was planning to kill him so as not to appear to be a suspect upon his death. The narrator spent the entire week visiting the home of the old man dead at about midnight and he watched the man sleep while he fantasized how he would destroy the vulture’s eye but every time he would find the eye closed as the old man was fast asleep. So he went on hoping to find the eye open during one of his night visits and this went on for seven straight nights. On the eighth night, he went on with the usual routine but this time he made a slight sound when his thumb slipped on the tin fastening on his lantern and this woke up the old man who then found it difficult to get sleep afterwards. This is what the mad narrator had been waiting for all this time, the eye was open and it made him very furious every time he looked at it and after waiting patiently in the dark for quite a while he pounced on the old man and dragged him out of bed to the floor before proceeding to pull the bed over him. The old man shrieked only once during the whole incident and after a short while he was dead. A neighbor who had heard the shriek from the old man’s house called the police who arrived moments after the narrator had dismembered the old man’s body and hid in the floor after pulling out three planks and fitting them back perfectly. The police found him in the house and they did not suspect anything wrong as the narrator explained that the old man had gone away on a trip. The police were in no hurry to leave and this made the man uneasy that he begun hearing a ringing in his ears that was becoming louder as time went by making his head to ache a lot. This continued until he confessed to killing the old man and he revealed where he had hid his body believing that the sharp ringing in his ears was because the old man’s heart was possible still beating (Alan 2001 p.2). The reason behind the narrator’s behavior can be attributed to mental imbalance that affected the way in which he viewed things and interpreted the objects in his surroundings. 3.0 Krapp’s Last Tape story In the story titled Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, the main character Krapp is 69 years old and as it has been his custom, he is waiting albeit impatiently for the exact time when he was born to reach before he can record his experience of the year before on his tape recorder as he had done religiously since he was 24 years. As he waits for time to lapse he gets acquainted with a tape he had made 30 years ago when he was 39 years. At this age Krapp had celebrated his birthday all alone albeit in a pub and it was in this same year that he lost his mother. Krapp had spend most of his adult life alone because he did not appreciate people he only thought of himself as a man worthy of more than he was getting and as a result people grew tired of him. This is true because he had a companion at age 29 named Bianca who soon left him and from then on Krapp had been distancing himself from love and companionship that other people had to offer. He opted to comfort himself by having a tape recorder which he interacted with from time to time (Beckitt 1960 p.30). Krapp had tried out writing books but he failed miserably at it. His only consolation was his tape recorder and as time went by he grew frustrated and annoyed with the kind of life he was living and he became hopeless to the extent where he wished death upon himself. His house is just like him plain, lonely and cold as opposed to others in this era of 1950s where there was deep appreciation of art in form of ornaments paintings and such artistic things that beautify people and their surroundings. Krapp’s solitude is brought by himself as he pushes away people and they also keep away from him as he belittles them treats them harshly. If only he would have learnt to appreciate other people and have a higher self esteem of himself and try out doing more involving activities that would have made him more participative and interactive with other people. He should not have been focusing on his mistakes and failures of the past, instead he should have been living in the present by finding new interests and friends to keep him happy and enjoying life for the remainder of his life. 4.0 Rwanda Genocide and Other Related Cases In Rwanda, the tragic events of the Rwandan genocide left thousands if not millions of people in trauma. This was brought about by witnessing the brutal events that took place during that dark period as well as bearing external and internal injuries that will forever be a constant reminder of that horrible time. Losing close relatives and friends was also not easy and the hatred and the intense feeling of revenge against the perpetrators is more than enough to handle let alone comprehend. For many years Rwandese citizens had to come to terms with the reality that there lives were changed forever. There was a feeling of hopelessness and many people opted to die rather than deal with the traumatic effects of the genocide which manifest themselves through nightmares and various phobias as well as deep hatred for the tribe and people that brought this thick dark cloud that is ever present in their lives. Healing techniques were introduced through various activities such as counseling sessions, reconciliation forums via the radio and television as well as on the ground where people would discuss the causes, effects and the road to recovery for individuals and the whole nation (Eric 2004 p.23). This is also the case with the former Yugoslavia, Vietnam and also the people of the United States following the tragic terrorism attack on September 11 2001. A dirty civil war broke out in Liberia that lasted for seven years from 1989 to 1996 that caused untold suffering, political instability and an economic downfall. So many Liberians were displaced as some of them became refugees in neighboring countries. It is estimated that one in every ten Liberians lost their lives during this grim period. The perpetrators of these atrocities were non other than fellow neighbors, friends, families and communities. This meant that the very people you knew and trusted were the same ones who turned against you in cold blood. This left an indelible mark in the conscience of the people that would haunt them for the rest of their lives if proper steps would not be taken to help them deal with the trauma and conflict. The path that the people took towards living together once again was through trauma healing and reconciliation programs (THRP) that were facilitated by various humanitarian organizations. This was effective as it recognized the need for the healing of the social wounds and the trauma caused by the civil war as well as the need for reconciliation and peace building between individuals and communities. Once this is done then the process of rebuilding the nation through a transparent and democratic process that would see people chosen leaders elected should follow and not the other way round because what had happened is bound to occur again. 5.0 Conclusion and recommendations People do different things that are sometimes unexplainable all because of some tragic events that they underwent during their childhood or adulthood that change their functioning driving them to do some crazy things like suicide, being rapists or serial killing just to fill a huge gap within their heart and soul. These events alter there mental and emotional status a great deal. Victims of trauma and conflicts should be loved cared for and be given professional counseling to be able to get solutions to the many questions they have and later on gain healing and closure. When dealing with victims of trauma and conflict it is important to understand the particular cultural context in which it occurred. This gives a deeper understanding as to the causes of the conflict and the approaches to be used to address the issue and try and resolve in in an amicable way. People who have gone through wars and terrorism attacks as well as other kinds of traumatizing events usually have no care for tomorrow, their minds are hinged on what happened to them and their loved ones and the only thing on their mind is usually revenge and self pity. What needs to be done to such people is to encourage them that yesterday is gone, today is here and it will come and pass too but the future depends on what we do today. In order for our children and their children's children to live a better life without the sorrows experienced in the past, something needs to be done, not later but now. It is important to deal with the victims alone, then the offenders alone and then finally bring them together so they can seek peace , forgiveness and reconciliation. It is important that both parties in a conflict realize that they cannot do without each other and that their collective effort is necessary for their country to progress forward into prosperity. Work Cited Allan E. (2001). The Tell-Tale Heart. New York. United Holdings Group. Beckitt S. (1960). Krapp’s Last Tape and other Dramatic Pieces. New York: Grove Atlantic Inc. Eric B. (2004). Trauma Healing. Beyond Intractability. Retrieved from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/trauma_healing/ Read More