***
The next article is:
Karp, H.B. (1985, Fall). Working with Resistance. Military Chaplains' Review, 14(4), 75-80.
***
"Resistance is under fire today. If cooperation is seen as universally good, its opposite resistance, isusually seen as bad or negative. How many times have you heard these admonitions: "Don't be defensive," "You've got to learn to compromise," or, "You're only thinking of your own welfare"? One of the most difficult tasks for managers and trainers is knowing when resistance is appropriate -- and how to express it appropriately -- so that results are positive for all." (p. 75)I don't know whether either of the military chaplains/H.R. department staff ever read this article or not but I am certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that if they ever had any inclination to humor any resistance for any reason the mission leadership or one or the other missions on the board would have quickly put a stop to it so that everyone pretty much just had it ingrained in them not to even bother risking any resistance and the leadership knew that letting any slip by their watch would also be asking for trouble and they maybe had to also watch their backside as well.
And who was I? What kind of resistance did I offer? Basically refusing to bow down and worship them and put them in the place of God in my life; refusing to let them tell me what was right and what was wrong; and these things I retained to the end as not subject to their authority. I retained the right the whole way through to make my own decision, with God's help as to what is right and what is wrong. That was my coup d'état. Yes, I was standing up on the inside. Yes, indeed, I was. And the moral decision was that there was a lot wrong with the mission.
***
"Two definitions are essential for discussion: power and resistance. Power is the ability to get all you want from the environment, given what's available. It's a means to an end, rather than an end in itself, and is solely a function of the individual. Resistance is the ability to avoid what is not wanted from the environment. It is an expression of power in that not getting what you don't want is as beneficial as getting what you do want." (p. 76)It's interesting, because my middle brother is all about power. I think he's manipulative and I've lost all respect for him; it's like he's just been trying to garner situations by power for years and years and so much of what he does seems so manipulative it's disgusting... all related to this power. But people buy into it. That's another story though.
While I was with the mission where was some talk among certain women that was competitive in nature, but I wasn't sure if it was something to take seriously or just something to confuse me. So I'm not sure what to do with it. The thing was that it seemed that report was pretty important, so I'm not sure how much competition and gamesmanship the leadership would have wanted to put up with if it were really a serious deal. And some of the potential ministries they told me about anyway were bogus, so those could be too. If they weren't bogus, though, then you'd have this kind of thing going on.
But if these are supposed to refer to resistance, that's an interesting possibility. I didn't really want anything from the mission except to take me seriously and be able to sit down and be able to sit down and talk as equals. Well, that wasn't going to happen because there's no way I was going to be treated as an equal and I was going to be the only one doing any adapting, period. So then it become a matter of what I don't want from the mission, which is unbearable treatment, and as strong as I was (and I did come to Vienna somewhat stressed already) I did have my limits like anyone. The only way you could avoid problems with the mission, however, was to do what they wanted. So that was one of the things I had to figure out after the sent me back to the U.S.
***
"Regardless of the reasons of their legitimacy, most people will only reveal those things that are safe for them to disclose. This suggests that it may take some time to develop the level of trust needed to get at the relevant issues." (p. 77)This is exactly why I divulged exactly 0% of my concerns, because that's how safe I felt disclosing anything to anyone in the mission. Now don't you think it's just a little unusual that a missionary should feel unsafe expressing ANY of his/her concerns AT ALL with any of her fellow missionaries or mission leaders (including my sending mission)? But that's the truth. That's why it wasn't until the end of my time with the mission, probably when it became clear that I had no plans to continue with the mission and I wasn't giving any explanation for why I was leaving or anything that they were understanding that there was something they didn't understand and "I was standing up on the inside." All that time they didn't know because I never told them anything, not a word because I didn't trust them. Sure I would have just loved to have ripped them up and down and told them some of the things I was thinking, but that would have been hell unimaginable for me. I already had practically more than I could handle.
***
I clearly had authentic resistance to the Vienna mission. It was uniquely against them, their ways of operating, their value system, their apparent connections with government, etc."Two varieties of resistance must be addressed: psudo-resistance and authentic resistance. Pseudo-resistance has nothing to do with the issue at hand. Usually it is a response to conditions and attitudes grounded in the resistors past. A few examples are: general mistrust of people; cynical view towards life; bad interpersonal relationship; resentment of authority; hunger to make personal impact; fear of obligating oneself; or sometimes, being chronically unclear about what is wanted. By contrast, authentic resistance is a statement of strength by the individual and is directed specifically to the situation at hand. The first objective in exploring resistance is to determine if it is pseudo or authentic. Once this is accomplished, pseudo-resistance can be set temporarily aside as irrelevant and authentic resistance addressed directly." (p. 79)
***
"RecheckThe "Recheck" is part of a series of steps on dealing with resistance, which I didn't go through with the mission. In any case, I did mention to a couple secretaries that I was experiencing stress and this got to the mission leadership (lesson: don't tell anybody anything of importance like this). So the mission utilized this as a weakness to try to get me to succumb to them through sending me to the U.S. and what that entailed. That really wasn't an accommodation, however, because they didn't identify it as stress (which was coming from the mission in the first place), but pointed the finger elsewhere at the surrounding culture, and they never even checked to see how I was doing if I really needed counseling. Did my Austrian doctor recommend it? So it was a pseudo-accommodation no matter how you look at it.
Resistance will remain if there has been no accommodation of the resistor's concerns." (p. 80)
***
"The need to resist is a powerful part of the human makeup. It is neither good nor bad, but an attribute that can be used to strengthen individuals, families and organizations. A person is never stronger or more creative than during the act of resisting something perceived as harmful." (p. 80)The Vienna mission I don't think would ever, ever accept resistance as good. Resistance was always bad in their books. They just would't have anything to do with it. I already mentioned a million times that they didn't have a grievance policy in place, even to go to sending missions. That's because they didn't accept resistance. So if you had a grievance your only choices were to just suck it up or leave. That's it. Like it or leave it. Forget this mamby-pamby grievance stuff with its conflict resolution or working with resistance. That's the mission how I knew it anyway.
This article came out about 6 months or so before I arrived in Vienna. I wonder if either of the military chaplain/H.R. staff had had a chance to read it...
