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I can honestly say that I have learned a tremendous amount of useful information regarding conflict this semester. Before I took this class, I had every intension that conflict was always a negative ‘thing.’ There was no way that was ever going to change that, until this class of course. I never really read textbooks in class. The most I do is skim through to find the answer I was looking for. Because this was an online course, I knew I had to do it all on my own so I put everything I had into the class and I believe this was the class to do it in because it has helped me in so many ways. I have learned how to begin to appreciate conflict instead of avoid it. The best thing to do is approach it with knowledge, and now that I have that, I can do so confidently. There are so many different kinds of relationships in life and conflict occurs in EACH of them. Now I can approach each situation with a different approach to conflict, and I APPRICIATE that!

Strengths and Weaknesses

This semester was the first semester of my college career that I endured an online class. It has been an experience to learn and take the responsibility to make sure I knew what was due on time and how to do it correctly. I am one who learns by voice and direct interaction, so getting use to finding everything out by looking at a computer screen was quite a challenge for me. I must say though, this class was set up very clearly and our professor was very professional about this class. Some of the strengths include the blog where you gave deep detailed directions of what we needed to do, using the textbook on a daily basis, the fact that you are approachable for any questions, and how successful you were as a professor because I genuinely learned a lot from this class. To be honest, I don’t really have any weaknesses to say other than the fact that we never had the chance to meet you! I would definitely recommend this class to any other communications major!

Negative View of Conflict

When it comes to conflict, I believe that people have a negative view of it because the outcome of their situation is always a negative one. Before I took this class, I was definitely one of those people. We all need to come to the realization that conflict can help us grow as individuals and help the relationship grow as well. When there is conflict, we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes, learn how to control our emotions, and learn more about the other person. The key to being able to learn all of these things is knowing how to resolve conflict in an effective way. Many people assume that conflict is bad because we are not happy in the moment it is occurring, but if one knows how to resolve conflicts with some sort of control, and then he/she can begin to appreciate conflict as a whole. And I do believe one hundred percent that if people knew more about conflict it would be feared less. WAY LESS!

"False Attributions"

I am guilty of making false attributions often. I am too impatient at times and I find myself in these situations more often than I should. One time I was at home getting ready to go to lunch with my boyfriend. I was all ready to go and on time. (That never happens) I was waiting in my room while I was watching television. I became lost in the show I was watching and completely lost track of time. I realized I had finished an entire episode of Law and Order, and that is about forty five minutes long. I looked at my phone and noticed he never called or texted me that he was running late so I called him. He didn’t answer the three times I called so of course I started thinking of all the false attributions about what he could be up too. Turns out he was trying to pick up a bouquet of flowers just for the heck of it and got stuck behind an accident on the freeway. I became so worked up over nothing and I still feel horrible to this day! All he wanted to do was to surprise me with flowers when I, sitting in my room freaking out on him. I wish I didn’t do this as much but my mind wanders too much!!

"Internet Research"

The first term I typed into Google was forgiveness. The types of sites that showed up were definitions, quotes, meanings and all sorts of randomness. What I found to be interesting was there were quite a few of sites that talked about what higher power thought of forgiveness. I felt like the internet was trying to persuade everyone to forgive. If Jesus, Britney Spears, and Obama all forgive, then we should too. The next word was reconciliations. Right away the first couple of cites showed definitions and randomness. ALSO I noticed there were many cites that dealt with government in anyway shape or form. Once I came to revenge, the government atmosphere disappeared. I found this to be really really interesting. This gives the message across that the government does nothing wrong and if they do, we should forgive. Forgiveness had the most results. I think this is because our world 'strives' for peace and people are willing to share good news such as forgiveness on a daily basis.

"Revenge"

According to our book, revenge is a behavior based on the notion, "an eye for an eye. “One wants to follow evil with more evil. When a conflict occurs and is not solved effectively with any of the concepts the book has provided us, revenge can occur. I recently watched a movie called, "Never Back Down,' and I saw an interesting side to revenge. The movie talks about never giving up in something you believe in. The main character Jake trains at a Mixed Martial Arts gym, and one of the rules is to never fight outside the gym or you will be kicked out. In the meantime at school, the bully brutally beats up Jakes best friend. Jake decided to retaliate and wants a fair fight with him. Jakes trainer tries to stop Jake because he doesn’t want Jake to fight out of revenge. Jake said that he is not fighting because he wants to, but he is fighting to stand up to the bully and attempt to stop what he has been doing. I found this interesting because it is so true. Revenge usually takes place in a negative environment, but Jake simply wants justice e for what has been happening.