From the first day of my first SPI class, I was introduced to the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding’s love of circles. Boy, does it love circles. We circled up at the beginning of each day and at the end, and sometimes in the middle, too, if a teacher or student felt like that type of atmosphere was called for. Circles indicate equality—no one is tangibly represented as being “above” others. This is seen as important at SPI because inequality, real or perceived, is a piece of the puzzle of most conflicts. My shyness balked at the circles, but my drive to see people connect with, and accept, each other, counteracted that. Circling up gave us time to lay aside the academics and be a group of people who were getting to know each other, and getting to know ourselves better, as we reflected on the class content that impacted us on personal levels.
The first day of class also addressed “norms”—no, not Cheers characters—ways of acting and talking that the teacher suggested or expected, and that we, the class, agreed upon. We had an open discussion about what kind of “culture” we were going to create within our classroom—for example, were we going to expect everyone to stay in his/her seat, or were people free to wander, get coffee, or leave as they pleased as long as they were quiet? Were we going to address disagreements that came up in classroom discussions right then, or save them for after class, in one-on-one settings? Would we rather have more, shorter breaks, or one long one? It was extremely refreshing to have an open discussion about this, and have some say in the “norms.” If we hadn’t discussed these things, everyone, from different countries, educational levels, etc., would have been left silently trying to figure out what others expected.
Most SPI classes are about practical strategies to deal with various types of group conflict and trauma, but most also have moments that encourage deeply personal introspection, because the better we understand our beliefs, biases, assumptions, and wounds, the better equipped we are to relate to others in healthy, respectful ways and help them heal from their wounds. This does us all good, because—as was repeated several times throughout the week—hurt people hurt people.
Hatching of a Heart 