Why Conflict Can be Good

People want to be happy. Generally, people want to stay comfortable. Why is it then, that we manage to progress as a society? Conflict. James Smith, one of my many mentors mentioned that he read once that "history is a conflict of ideas." I now repeat this to my students almost day after day. Is conflict always good? No, not necessarily. Especially not when one of the parties in the middle of the conflict refuses to learn from the other or concede any issues. The Gilded Age was a time period full of conflict, Gold Standard vs. Silver Standard, Big Business vs. Workers, Social Darwinists vs. Religious Leadership, Rural vs. Urban, Immigrants vs. Nativists, Native Americans vs. Expansionist Government, and Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Dubois. As all these conflicts grew, it became apparent that the only way of surviving as a nation was to come together in some form; enter the Progressive Era. Not all issues have been resolved. Heck, in many ways most of these issues will never be fully resolved. Still, there is a sense that we've made progress. Through conflict, we have managed to find a common ground, some form of consensus that helps us grow as human beings, interest groups, and maybe even as a nation. Conflict can be good.