Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In our day-to-day living we face a lot of problems, but mostly we get confused since we lack the right approach of solving the particular problem. Mostly, issue and problem are intermixed, giving us no ground to stand to find out the solution. Though Russell's point of view about solving the problem is for the thinkers as he states, "The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution." (1) But it is pertinent in our discussion also as how to thrash out a problem from the confusion of issue. It is purpose which states the problem and purpose is to decide about our doing or to decide what we want to be. Second comes the situation and situation is bad or good. The situation must be analyzed objectively to avoid the narrow sight about the problem. When does problem arise? When your purpose or difference of purpose about the situation is cloudy then arises the problem. Unfortunately, the difference is ignored and consequences are nothing but to grope in darkness.

Recently, I had to face a very complex problem, which was like caught between a rock and a hard place. I live in Pakistan, which is unfortunately, emerging as religious radical society. The religious bigotry is in the air and suicide bombing is the talk of the day and almost daily fifty to forty persons are the victims of indiscriminate suicide bombing. And to talk about religious tolerance and democratic value is to show red rag to the bull.

I am a teacher and I take Elizabethan drama with the postgraduate classes. Dr. Faustus, a superb play by Christopher Marlow, needs profound understanding of the aspirations of the Elizabethan Age. But the students, enrolled in our campus, have no back ground of English Language and what to say of Literature. I tried to make them understand the emerging of New Man in the age when Marlow composed the play. It all fell on deaf ears. The clamor was that Faustus was a sinner and demands were to ban the play in the campus.

The next day I found graffities against me, "sinner must be stoned to death" It was a tense situation and I had to approach the leader of the rebel rousers. He was bearded young man and always talked against the western culture. He came up with the fantastic understanding of the play. He objected my interpreting Faustus as Tragic Hero. Later I came to know that even the teachers were not clear about the Aristotelian concept of the tragic hero.

Now my concern was to hush up brouhaha. I had no other options but to admit before the audience that Faustus was a sinner but it is no harm if we read Aristotle's concept of Tragic Hero. The dust was settled and I escaped to die by stoning.

As I discussed in the beginning to know the purpose and cause of the problem is very essential to solve the problem. In the terminology of problem solving techniques my problem, narrated above, falls in the category of gap theory. It is not that easy as who was the first to propound this theory but Charles Kepner and Benjamin claimed in their book The Rational Manager that Herber Simon was the man to evolve this theory. (2)

My problem was created by this gap of discrepancy. The solution in such problem lies to fix the things and to redesign the situation. My audiences were bigot religious minded and to talk with them on secular terms was the root cause of the problem. The technique to point the root cause of the problem is defined under TQM (Total Quality Management). This technique demands that three criteria must satisfy the root cause of the problem. First, the root cause must be discerned logically to explain the problem, means, cause and effect is located. Second, it can be controlled directly. Third, the effect of correcting must be fixed.

In a complex situation, like the situation I was mired, there are many contributing factors which are important to be determined first to find out the solution. But it is only possible when the situation, where the problem is rooted, is analyzed systematically. (3)

When we analyze the above mentioned problem the root cause was the bigot attitude of the students and it needed serious address. It was a consonance gap and the remedy was to accommodate their point of view also, instead of bombarding them with the borrowed ideas it was better to share with them the dilemma of Faustus on their grounds. If he was a sinner to them then the solution was to emphasize on the sin of the protagonist. He was searching new avenues, was eager to observe things with empirical yard stick. Later on I gave them the example of Galileo and mentioned about the apology tendered to him after four hundred years by the Pope. In a couple of days the situation was changed, as desired by me and I found my students taking keen interest in their studies. Conclusion is in my problem-solving to fill the gap of discrepancy in cause and problem (4) was the tool which helped me out of that serious problem, which was life threatening no doubt.

WORK CITED

Russell, Bertrand. The Quotation Page. 1994-2007. Quotation Page.com and Michael Moncur. 9 October 2008.

Kepner, C & Tregoe, B. The Rational Manager. Canada: Mcgraw-Hill, 1965.

Kaufman, R. The Nature of Intelligence, Canada: Mcgraw-Hill, 1991

Newell, A. Human Problem Solving. USA: Prentice Hall, 1972