It seems like people fight a lot here. Heated argument seems like a pretty typical way of dealing with conflict, including: yelling, fingers in faces, shoving, and threatening. To me, these things signal serious conflict. But here, it can be a relatively minor dispute.
Campers and counselors havefrequently taken any camp management or cafeteria grievances out on me like this. At first, I thought they all must hate me to talk to me in this manner that I interpreted as so disrespectful. But now I’m learning that it’s pretty standard here. (I’m not drawing a conclusion that this is the case for the broader population – just the people I’ve encountered).
I’m sometimes called upon to be the mediator in argument (as the “Camp Coordinator” they keep saying). I usually have no understanding of the context of the disputes. Even if I do understand, sometimes I will tell them that I don’t understand, just to get out of it. I really can’t handle the yelling (esp. since it’s usually multiple people yelling at once). It’s just not normal for me. My typical response is to ask them, “What would Jesus do?” or just say, “I don’t understand. Talk to someone else.”
