Modelling Reconciliation

A few years ago I had the privilege to meet Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest in South Africa who is a human rights activist. Michael lost both of his hands and one of his eyes because a letter bomb that was sent to him because he was working to end Apartheid. Since then, he has become an Anglican priest under Bishop Desmond Tutu and he continues to work for reconciliation in South Africa to heal the wounds left by Apartheid and to create a better future.

When he described the process that he enters into with the groups he works with, I was intrigued by the fact that he will never do a group made up solely of one race. There must be a mixture. There must be those who were oppressed and those who were oppressed. There must be a sharing of stories in order to make reconciliation possible. Another aspect of the reconciliation process in South Africa around Apartheid is lack of punishment for offenders.

Michael also stated that there is a large difference between forgiveness and the process of reconciliation. He focuses more on creating a way of restorative justice instead of retributive justice. Although he has lost so much himself, he states that if the person who sent him the letter bomb confessed to him, Michael would ask what he is doing now. If he were making a positive contribution such as being a paramedic, then he would not press criminal charges (Lapsley, 1998).

My favorite quote in his article is this. "I have decided to opt for revenge, and my revenge will be very sweet; it will be to be part of building a nonracial, nonsexist, democractic South Africa, and the will be the sweetest revenge of all" (Lapsley, 1998).

I wonder how the Canadian reconciliation process could more closely mirror the process that is occurring in South Africa. The reconciliation process is very successful because there is a mutual sharing and an amnesty offered. When truth is offered, forgiveness is also offered. This mutuality is something so important that has not always been offered in the reconciliation process around residential schools.

The last point that I want to mention about this article is that the reconciliation process is meant to bring about a new moral order in Canada that does not support racism or inequality. It is very clear that this new moral order is not here yet. If we continue the process of reconciliation in this vein in Canada, maybe we can create a better moral order that will support a better future.

References
Lapsley, M. (1998 Winter). Confronting the past and creating the future: The redemptive value of truth telling. Social Research, 65(4), 741-758.