‘Yield yields yield’

Attracting the attention of the entire nation, the labor-management negotiations of Korea’s top global electronics company had continued, with both sides engaging in brinksmanship. Seeing the news, I remembered a tongue twister I learned from my British friend a long time ago: “Yield yields yield.” In the modern world, we are often told to fight, hustle and never give up. The mantra of our age is resistance: resist traffic, resist the boss, resist the temptation to check your phone during dinner. Yield means to surrender, give way or step aside. But curiously, the word yield also whispers a different philosophy, meaning to produce, generate or bring forth. The paradox is delicious: Sometimes, when we yield, we yield more. Take the morning commute: Drivers who refuse to yield at congested roads often end up yielding nothing but honks, curses and insurance claims. The stubborn refusal to let another car pass is a small act of defiance, but it rarely yields happiness. On the other hand, the driver who graciously yields the right of way discovers that traffic flows more smoothly, temper