When things just don’t add up. When total agreement seems unachievable. When being of one mind is a fleeting fancy. These are the times that try men’s souls.
But Thomas Paine wasn’t looking for reconciliation when he penned those words. Five months after the Declaration of Independence, facing the onslaught of British forces at Baltimore, Paine refused to believe that God would abandon their cause and give them over to those who would enslave them. Two days later, on Christmas Day, George Washington would take his troops back across the Delaware to certain victory. But this was not reconciliation.
Reconciliation tops the news these days as Congress attempts to force vote the passage of healthcare reform in order to avoid gridlock. However, this only results in half of the country being happy (?); political partisanship will still keep unrest stirred up.
The word reconciliation comes from Latin, meaning “to make good again.” For something to be reconciled, it must have first to have gone wrong. True reconciliation doesn’t just require agreement. Even acknowledged forgiveness is not enough. Hurts can’t just be forgiven; they must be healed.
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