Essay on Causes and Consequences of Conflict

Words: 1122
Pages: 5

Encountering Conflict - Secret river

'A conflict's importance lies not in its causes but in its consequences.'
In today's rising society, where we experience people willing to strive to their maximum potential by any means necessary, it becomes blatantly obvious to why we often overlook the implications we inflict on others. We are sometimes aware of our actions, acting in spite or in fear, and sometimes ignorant to the situation, unaware of the consequences we deliver. The question is however – where does the importance of conflict lie – in its causes? Or in its consequences? It seems evident that there are many people will use their spite and fear and perhaps even compassion to exacerbate conflict. People all too easily become to
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Either way you look at it conflict is inevitably encountered by everyone and in different ways. Two notorious racist groups – The Nazi's and the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), show just how their actions have led to the destruction of lives, communities and the negative influences each has had on racial beliefs.

Through these horrific actions, devastating stories depict selfishness, anger and compassion – all a consequence of trying to survive, and/or the cause of the next conflict along the infectious line. This destruction has embedded itself on the walk ways of our streets. The social hierarchy, still massively evident in today's society as back in the colonial times that the 'famous' are able to bend the laws, while a low or middle class person gets punished for the same crime. We claim to have come a long way since the first settlers roamed our land, yet everyday, people ignore the stories and create conflict 'just for the hell of it'.

Our actions will always decide our future. It is the causes and implications that follow that prove to be the critical aspect of any conflict. It is also our inability to place ourselves in the shoes of others, that make it so easy to cause conflict and ignore the consequences it may inflict. Novels, such as the 'The Secret River', provide a great insight into