Steve Goodier Wisdom: Friendly Fire

In this inspirational article, master storyteller, Steve Goodier, shares a key piece of life wisdom . Enjoy!

“Friendly fire,” or fratricide, is a military term used when troops of one nation accidentally kill their own. Fratricide has tragically become a battlefield fact of life. David Foster in “Light and Life” (July 2, 1994), tells us George Washington reported that during the French and Indian War, 400 casualties resulted from soldiers who panicked and sent volley after volley into their own ranks.

His own soldiers killed Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general during the American Civil War, in 1863 as he galloped back into southern lines.

Perhaps 10% of American casualties of World War II and 15% to 20% during the Vietnam Conflict were the result of fratricide — bombs which were dropped by accident; errant rifle fire; artillery shells landing on the wrong targets.

“Friendly fire” is the cause of countless casualties even today. Not in battle, but in the workplace and on the home front. Teachers who are assailed by parents “burn out” in just a few short years. In-fighting within groups brings down worthwhile organizations. Those in the helping professions are set upon by those they try to care for. Co-workers undermine one another, at the expense of productivity and emotional health. Spouses fire verbal (and sometimes physical) shots at one another until mortally wounded marriages finally die. Families fight amongst themselves with little regard for the damage wrought.

The loss from domestic “friendly fire” cannot be estimated. Yet these casualties are unnecessary and wasteful.

Someone said so well:

To come together is a beginning;

To stay together is progress;

To finish together is success.

Can an organization or family succeed when it sustains damages from within? The solution to the problem of loss by friendly fire is found in the word  “together.” We have come together for important reasons. We are in it together. Through conflict and disagreement, we must stand together. And in the end, if we finish at all, we will finish together.

Steve Goodier’s books & newsletter: http://LifeSupportSystem.com.