Item A: Goals Workshop Follow-Up

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The group laughs, often applauds, they recognize themselves, they have seen this in many meetings. I ask them, rhetorically, “Have you ever experienced this kind of argument before? They all nod their heads. Everyone wants the group to repeat their story line: I have Rob and Crista return to the story teller group. I turn to the others: “What Rob and Crista both want is to win this argument, and have everybody else repeat their sentence as the entire story line.” I ask Rob to repeat his sentence, and for the others to repeat it exactly as he said it. Rob: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Kathy: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Laura: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Jon: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Debbie: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Dawn: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Crista (resisting): NO WAY! There he met a female porcupine who became his mate for life.” Again, the community laughs. They understand the implications of this activity. Now, they she know, Crista wants everyone to repeat her sentence, because has the truth. The story is all mixed up: In addition to everyone wanting to be right with their “story line,” when the group meets, they are seated out of order. I move the standing participants around, mixing their order. Then I ask them to repeat their sentence: Debbie: The bear growled at the porcupine when he approached.” Laura: “He saw another animal in the meadow.” Rob: A porcupine walked into the meadow.” Dawn: “This frightened the porcupine, so he climbed a tree to get away from the bear. Kathy: “It was a warm and sunny day.” Crista: There he met a female porcupine who became his mate for life.” Jon: “It was a bear, an angry bear just waking up from a winter nap.” 33