Marshall Rosenbaum

A great peace builder passed away last week. Very few people even knew, and at least by birth, he was one of Detroit's own. Marshall Rosenberg went from teacher to interfaith theologian to pioneer conflict transformation with "Nonviolent Communication."

If you seek conflict resolution beyond transactional (tit for tat) and domineering (I'm right, you're wrong/I win) relationships, he was a living practitioner through all his actions.

How? By simply addressing what people fundamentally need, figuring out how to make it happen together, and acknowledging how we use language and our ways of teaching often rely on punishment and coercion.

Marshall diffused tribal disagreements and got people to see each other as humans, building understanding between Palestinians and the US, or in physically exercising active nonviolence by restraining an attacker without causing harm. I've only witnessed his work through video and story. I also still have a hard time getting over the fact that he uses puppets in his presentations. That said, I have a lot of respect for someone who vocally makes a conscientious effort to take time to help people understand basic needs, feelings, and openly admits to at one time being willing to say "do it my way, or I'll kick your ass."

• (S.H.) When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
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  (P.S.) Because doing the right thing is a fragment in the pool of corruption that plagues the fields of ever society's institutions.

• (I.T.) S.H., that's when you do things right in small steps without involving people in taking them. If part of doing it right necessitates the participation and inclusion of others, they can look back to the journey as much a part of their own as it is a part of something bigger than themselves.

  
  
• (I.T.) P.S., when was the last time you made something meaningful for someone? When was the last time you made something meaningful with someone? What was it like? Is it likely they'll fondly talk about it again in the future?

  
  I'm willing to believe the process of making started from putting together fragments or formerly scattered pieces. They could be fragments of your imagination, or cooking ingredients throughout a kitchen which came from different parts of a grocery store, which came from different parts of the world.
  
  Except the fragments you work with when doing the right thing don't break when genuinely curious, deeply educated, and empowered people genuinely engage them. Even if it's a meal or other fleeting creation, people can and will speak about their memory of nourishment for years to come. If people are empowered to make doing the right thing a clear, practical, and compelling alternative, it wins and people stop putting up with crap.
  
  That's a legacy in itself that won't get washed away in the cesspool. You just need to know where to find and how to make those little miracles happen.