Friday, January 07, 2005.

"Friendly fire," or fratricide, is a military term used when troops
of
one nation accidentally kill their own. Fratricide has tragically
become a battle-field fact of life. David Foster in "Light and Life"
(July 2, 1994), tells us George Washington re-ported that during the
French and Indian War, 400 casual-ties resulted from soldiers who
panicked and sent volley after volley into their own ranks.

His own soldiers killed Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general during
the American Civil War, in 1863 as he galloped back into south-ern
lines.

Perhaps 10% of American casualties of World War II and 15% to 20%
during the Vietnam Conflict were the result of fratricide -- bombs
which were dropped by accident; errant rifle fire; artillery shells
landing on the wrong targets.

"Friendly fire" is the cause of countless casualties even today. Not
in battle, but in the workplace and on the home front. Teachers who
are assailed by parents "burn out" in just a few short years.
In-fighting within groups brings down worth-while organizations. Those
in the helping professions are set upon by those they try to care
for. Co-workers undermine one another, at the expense of productivity
and emotional health. Spouses fire verbal (and sometimes physical)
shots at one another until mortally wounded
marriages finally die. Families fight amongst themselves with
little regard for the damage wrought.

The loss from domestic "friendly fire" can-not be estimated. Yet
these
casualties are unnecessary and wasteful.

Someone said so well:

To come together is a beginning;
To stay together is progress;
To finish together is success.

Can an organization or family succeed when it sustains damages from
within? The solution to the problem of loss by friendly fire is found
in the word "together". We have come together for important reasons.
We are in it together. Through conflict and disagreement, we must
stand together. And in the end, if we finish at all, we will finish
together.

{ 12:51 AM }