Everybody Calm Down

Do you spend a good part of your life calming people down? Putting out little fires. Diverting disagreements before they get out of hand.

Have you ever observed a big time argument in the making? A conversation half spoken. A train wreck occurring in real time.

Are you the person who finds the middle ground? Calmly bringing people to a place where they can see each other’s perspective. Respect each other for having a thought worth hearing.

Welcome to Switzerland. Yup! Hello Switzerland. I was nicknamed Switzerland many years ago by a friend during a heated discussion. The “heat” I mention stemmed from the subject of the discussion, a business that hadn’t lived up to the expectations of my friend. She was pretty furious about the perceived misstep on the handling of something, I can’t even remember exactly what it was. But what I do remember was pointing out possible reasons for the problem. You know, like “Maybe they were short handed” or “Supplies may have been limited due to the season”. Well, my friend turned to me and snapped, “OK, Switzerland, cut it out. They were wrong and I don’t want to forgive them.” We all laughed and the nickname stuck, Switzerland.

I think we all need to be a little more Switzerland. We need to remember that not everyone is the same and sometimes things just don’t work out. We need to remember that some days are just not good days. We need to remember that everyone is dealing with things. And those things cause people to make odd decisions.

It’s not so bad to take that neutral stance. And sometimes it can even help.