Living life is a process of reconcilation

While we were driving to the Green Market Square, Ryan and I were debating whether or not forgiveness is required for reconciliation. I was saying that I believed that forgiveness was not necessary of certain people who may have committed offenses affecting someone personally, but rather just the willingness to move forward with the formerly rival group. Ryan spoke to the fact that we were talking about psychological changes that occur about the other group, and how that is a very individual process, in which forgiveness is important in coming to peace with events that may have happened. During our discussion we asked Shafik, our driver, his opinion as a South African on the idea of reconciliation. He said something along the lines of it being different than all the visitors who come to study this concept, and that he is just trying to live his life. That was the end of our discussion.

I think about how academic the concept of reconciliation feels sometimes. What’s also interesting to remember is how few people were actually actively participating in the struggle against apartheid, or even in the US how few students actually participated in a protest in the 1960’s. For the most part, it’s usually the minority. Most people are just trying to live their lives. I don’t think we can blame anyone for that.

If we think about how many people are actually oppressing others or creating violence, that too is a minority. Of course, even being a minority of the population, both those creating violence as well as those involved in struggles against oppression still have a huge impact on the common person. Still, for the most part, people are just trying to live their lives. The way in which the South African people we have met choose to live their lives is in the spirit of progress. Reconciliation is a word that interested me but I only had vague conception of when I enrolled for this course, but every person here seems to be familiar enough with the concept to speak to the issues of reconciliation. And though perspectives on what reconciliation looks like vary depending on the person, most people we talk to have internalized the goal of creating a common South African identity inclusive of the many complex identities within it in order to create what many call a rainbow nation. By carrying this with them in day to day life, whether it be as a driver or a tour guide at Robben Island, they are actively participating in the process of reconciliation.