Reconciliation is a journey which consistently and foremost envisions the dignified future of a people embedded in a set of interdependent relationship, among people who were once friends, but are now rivals. The journey has political implications that involve restoring and healing the web of broken relations.
In its literal translation, the Spanish version of Psalms 85, verse 10 says: “Truth and Mercy have met together, Justice and Peace have kissed.” By this pronouncement, the Psalmist invoked the spirit of four key concepts, which continues to inspire with consistent vigor the liberation of the human spirit. John Paul Lederach identified the paradoxical tensions and the dialectical interplay between Truth, Mercy, Justice and Peace, which creates in their midst a place called, reconciliation.
Lederach says, “Truth is the longing for acknowledgement of wrong and the validation of painful loss and experiences, but it is tied with Mercy, which articulates the need for acceptance, letting go, and a new beginning. Justice represents the search for individual and group rights, for social restructuring, and restoration and is linked with Peace which underscores the need for interdependence, respect, and security.”
A journey towards reconciliation must satisfy all these concepts in spite of the fact that they seem to be pulling in opposite directions. The process requires deep discerning that enables a delicate balance where Truth is reasoned with Mercy and Justice in it restorative sense, facilitates Peace. At its core, establishing the Truth is fundamental. It is inconceivable that reconciliation can take place if Truth has not been sufficiently met. In its function, the Truth enables creating a shared history, which binds people together.
But what happens in situations of protracted conflict? Often due to overwhelming circumstances: Truth is suppressed, Mercy is blinded, Justice is kidnapped and Peace means to, suffer peacefully. Herein lays the complexity of the process and the multiplicity of issues involved. After all, where does one even begin? The inability to form consensus and conceptual understanding on where to begin causes differences among the very people who are responsible for reconciliation. Well-intended pursuit for reconciliation can stumble when clarity and priority of the process are ill-defined.
Lederach says Psalm 85 implies an understanding that reconciliation is both a place which we are trying to reach and a journey that must be taken up. The journey leads to a meeting place where we encounter ourselves, others and God. Hence, reconciliation is a social space where Truth and Mercy meet together, Justice and Peace have kissed.
It is possible people may argue over which is more important, and may force a false dichotomy of choosing between one or the other. In reality, such a dichotomy does not exist; all four concepts are made complete in the presence of each other. The question therefore; Can Nagas create social space where Truth, Mercy, Justice and Peace come together to create deeper understandings and unexpected new paths which will lead towards reconciliation, resolution and reconstruction?
