Reconciliation Close to Home

By Arlene Harder, Author Healing Relationships is an Inside Job and Ask Yourself Questions and Change Your Life

Also posted on Support4Change Blog

Do we criticize those on the global stage for not setting aside their differences and making peace when we, ourselves, remain separated from people with whom we share much more than they do?

Have you ever wondered what a space alien would think if he were to observe our world with a highly sensitive telescope and listening device? Don’t you think he would be amazed to find that people—earthlings who look so much alike on the outside, whose bodies function with the same physical organs on the inside, and who all need love, compassion and understanding—are willing to kill one another simply because their philosophies and opinions differ?

Strange, isn’t it? We are engaged in a dangerous and deadly battle to eliminate other people because they see the world in a different way. But of course, it’s not me that’s creating all that commotion, it’s the other guy.

But for right now, today, I want to take our focus on how to solve the seemingly intractable crises in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. It is obviously difficult to create understanding and peace if you live in a different country from a person with whom you’ve become an enemy, if you have had vastly different educational systems, and if you have not had an opportunity to experience the same things.

So let’s look at conflicts closer to home. There is sure to be at least one person at work, in your neighborhood, or in your family with whom you are physically or emotionally estranged because you see the world very differently. But if we are to expect to find peace with people in other countries, but aren’t willing or able to reach across a much smaller divide of broken friendships and family disagreements, what chance does the world have?

So I would like to suggest that there is probably at least one person with whom you are estranged and who would be good to have back in your life. I would also like to suggest that you don’t have to wait for the other person to agree with you before you can be reconciled. Why not take a small step to world peace this week by practicing reconciliation with just one person near you?

Is there someone with whom you would like to reconcile? Is there someone with whom it is important that you reconcile if you are to create greater peace in the world?

If you know the person with whom you need to reconcile, what steps are you willing to take to make that possible?