The Imperative for Peace and Reconciliation in South Sudan
6 min read
The current state of affairs in South Sudan
By Baak Chan Yak Deng In Wau South Sudan
Monday, May 24, 2021 (PW) — There is hope for every man to return to his maker as a reconciliation always brings a springtime to the soul. Then you must reconcile yourself to the fact that something is always hurt by any change. If you do this, you will not hurt yourself.Reconciliation is a decision that you take in your heart. It should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn’t be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.Moving beyond past wounds and hurts and building a culture of respect, dignity, and flowering love. There is always a way forward if the responsible parties are willing to act. Reconciliation with our enemies is simply a desire to better our condition, a weariness of war, or the fear of some unlucky thing from occurring. If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth. No matter what the hatred is, preserve the possibility of peace and always have room for forgiveness.In life, we make the best decisions we can with the information we have on hand. True reconciliation does not consist in merely forgetting the past.If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother as stated in Matthew 18:15Reconciliation is more beautiful than victory and it is a part of the healing process, but how can there be healing when the wounds are still being inflicted by beneficiaries of wars or conflict?Reconciliation is the physical demonstration that God is at work in the world. Any fool can put people at odds. Only God One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all can bring those opposed to one another together as sisters and brothers. When we lose reconciliation, we lose the purposes of Jesus.The only way to overcome grief is to go through it! It is much safer to reconcile an enemy than to conquer him; victory may deprive him of his poison, but reconciliation of his will.Contradictions are the impossible chasms that create forever separations. God is the forever bridge that creates impossible reunions.Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant.Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed. One minute of reconciliation is worth more than a whole life of friendship!The worst reconciliation is better than the best divorce. It is a deep practice that we can do with our listening and our mindful speech. To reconcile means to bring peace and happiness to nations, people, and members of our family… In order to reconcile, you have to possess the art of deep listening.Reconciliation and forgiveness are matters of the heart. They cannot be forced on the people.Reconciliation is the most significant level of life’s maturity! To celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation means to be wrapped in a warm embrace.Reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice. It is to understand both sides; to go to one side and describe the suffering being endured by the other side, and then go to the other side and describe the suffering being endured by the first side.There is no reconciliation until you recognize the dignity of the other, until you see their view- you have to enter into the pain of the people. You’ve got to feel their need.We must content ourselves with the mystery, the absurdity, the contradictions, the hostility, but also the generosity that our environment offers us. It’s not much, but it’s always better than the deadly, defeatist certainty of the paranoid.It is not “forgive and forget” as if nothing wrong had ever happened, but “forgive and go forward,” building on the mistakes of the past and the energy generated by reconciliation to create a new future.Truth can be told in an instant, forgiveness can be offered spontaneously, but reconciliation is the work of lifetimes and generations.Reconciliation is not possible when one party asks the other to obliterate all signs of their relationship.To be a finite being is no crime, and to be the Infinite is not to be a creditor. As man was not consulted he does not find himself a party in a bargain, but a child in the household of love. Reconciliation, therefore, is not the consequence of paying a debt, or procuring atonement for an injury, but an organic process of human life.If the sun never set, we would have no perception of the vast depths of space, which become visible only at night when we are able to see what is obscured by the bright daylight.Reconciliation is the fastest way to change your life.Oh, my dear friends you who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day, if you only could know and see and feel that the time is short, how it would break the spell! How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do!With all the differences and misunderstandings, meeting halfway is the only way to show that both of you are willing to sacrifice a portion of yourself for the benefit of both.The overall purpose of human communication is – or should be – reconciliation. It should ultimately serve to lower or remove the walls of misunderstanding which unduly separate us human beings, one from another.The process of reclaiming the self is one of reconciliation with meaning.Reconciliation is a deep practice that we can do with our listening and our mindful speech. To reconcile means to bring peace and happiness to nations, people, and members of our family…. In order to reconcile, you have to possess the art of deep listening.Reconciliation requires changes of heart and spirit, as well as social and economic change. It requires symbolic as well as practical action.True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.In the end, reconciliation is a spiritual process, which requires more than just a legal framework. It has to happen in the hearts and minds of people.
The writer is a concern citizen and can be reached at baakmajook44@gmail.com or baak.maker44@gmail.com
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