Mediation Resolves Conflicts

The Opinion page column, "Developing the 'Software' of Peace," March 19, prompts me to emphasize the need to use alternative means to resolve disputes which in the past have been dealt with by adversarial means.

Those who have been involved in suits, and have dealt in litigation with attorneys and courts, know that this is a divisive, adversarial process, costly in time, dollars, and relationships. We are now living in an era and an area where more enlightened processes are available to us to resolve conflicts. One of these is mediation.

Numerous cities and counties now have mediation programs - public and private - as well as private professional mediators, which deal with private as well as public issues.

Mediation is a process that gives all the parties to a dispute the full power to resolve their differences with each other and to work together toward a mutually satisfactory agreement. What they could not reconcile with each other directly, they can often do with the aid of experienced mediators, who act as neutral third parties in assisting them to come to resolution.

Let us strive to resolve our differences in constructive, productive ways, in which we work together toward solutions that will be beneficial to all parties and will diminish divisiveness among us. Elisabeth Seaman, Palo Alto, Calif, Mediator

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