NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK: What is it to us?

Reconciliation is a process of forgiveness. It is also a choice that people today are disregarding. It's found between God and between others, found in the best of us today and the best of us in history. There are multiple instances in our history, in Australia and the world, where actions required penance and forgiveness but wasn’t acknowledged as an option. Misunderstandings and prejudices prevented people from seeing the fault in themselves where they've unknowingly missed the wrong in their actions. It birthed a chain of conflict and despair that became difficult to end. Humans worked in retaliation and not reconciliation.

The world would become a better place if reconciliation became more integrated into our daily lives. If we realise our mistakes and apologise for them upfront. Making mistakes can be as easy as breathing but owning up to them is like holding your breath. We should notice each other as equal, imperfect beings who are prone to making mistakes, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” As we notice the wrongs done upon us we should also note the wrongs we've committed. “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?” Sometimes we are the ones at greater fault. We should constantly seek to understand others and the choices they make, even if we don't agree with them. Pride, at times, interferes with our want to reconcile and create peace.