Recently, when I was listening to the radio, two effective metaphors caught my attention that I thought applied to mediation and divorce.
The first was a reference to someone not doing what he was supposed to do and the person said “he was not coloring within the lines.” The second was a reference to an inadequate program and the person called the program “a two foot rope thrown down to a person at the bottom of a ten foot hole.” As always, I Googled the quotes and although the quotes were new to me and not wide spread, the quotes have been around for a while and have multiple variations.
The coloring quote goes both ways. People are encouraged to color outside the lines to be creative and not to color outside the lines to avoid inappropriate behavior.
In 2001, J. Zhu wrote an article entitled “The Impossible Dream: Tax Credits are a 10-Foot Rope Thrown to Uninsured New Yorkers at the Bottom of a 40-Foot Hole. In 2002, Kathleen Stoll wrote an article entitled, A 10-foot rope for a 40-foot hole:
Tax credits for the uninsured, 2002 Update.
During divorce mediation we both want the couple to come up with creative solutions but we was want them to stay within legal solutions. We don’t want them to get in a hole that they can’t get out of.
Learn more about mediation at https://www.center-divorce-mediation.com/ CDM (327) 4/1/17