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 The Process of Change |
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| Process of Change | ||||
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All life on this planet is designed to accommodate and promote change. Change is necessary for survival. This fact gives us hope in facing the crisis of juvenile crime. Change must be conscious, deliberate, and based on our personal understanding of the forces of life and death that are acting on earth. Human beings receive information by means of the five senses. They then organize this information into meaningful patterns. Finally, they take action. This is the process for individual change, and all three steps...knowledge, decision, and action...are required for conscious, deliberate change. In a group, the individuals who are the most uncomfortable with "the way things are" are the ones who initiate change. Because of their dissatisfaction with the status quo, they seek alternative ways to respond. When they are observed by others in a new behavior, they become "educators", by example and by design. These innovators can become the catalysts for change on a great scale because, when one member of a group changes, all of the relationships within the group change. All great social movements begin with individual insights and initiative. They result in changes in the system, in the structure of society. Education is the Action: The process of social change begins with the understanding of a new principle by an individual. Many individuals then come to agreement about the meaning of the principle. Finally, laws are enacted that reflect acceptance of the agreement by a substantial portion of society. In the Restorative Justice Mediation Program, we take action to educate people in the ways of peace and justice. These ways include believing in our capacity for change and forgiveness, valuing ourselves and others, and accepting responsibility for our actions. |
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