Friendly Fire
"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.
Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general during the
American Civil War, was killed in 1863 by his own
soldiers 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 dropped by
accident. Artillery shells landing on the wrong
targets.
"Friendly fire" is the cause of
countless casualties today. Not in battle, but in
the workplace and on the home front. Teachers are
assailed by parents and "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 worker productivity
and emotional health. Spouses fire verbal (and
occasionally physical) shots at one another until
mortally wounded marriages finally die. Families
fight amongst themselves with little regard to
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 - |
