![]() This is not to deny that there is an ugly, wicked and horrific past that society, including governments and citizens, need to address, both materially and immaterially. This is why I choose to view reconciliation within the framework of hope rather than within the framework of guilt. Hope is a forward‐thinking emotion hope engenders solutions. It necessarily involves the will to get there and it forces us to consider how we will do so. But hope that emerges in a proactive way and still understands and knows the past, this kind of hope implies action. Hope sometimes gets a bad reputation, especially when it serves to forget the past. Guilt rarely moves people forward in fact, it often traps them in the past, stuck in a feeling that they just can’t shake.Ĭontrast guilt with hope. ![]() Guilt leads people to look towards the past and sometimes remain trapped in sad feelings like anguish, anger or frustration. When I feel guilty, I feel lost and frustrated. Most people would agree, for instance, that guilt is a poor motivator. That idea is the misconception that reconciliation should be based on guilt, rather than on hope. ![]() In hushed tones, and in clusters after class, I often hear them saying, “I don’t want to feel guilty anymore,” or “Why should I feel guilty about what our ancestors did in the past?” These sentiments capture what I think is a fundamentally misunderstood component of reconciliation. Joseph’s Residential School as an orphan, and the erasure of her identity as an Indigenous person – students are often uncomfortable. When I share my great-grandmother’s story – the death of her mother at an early age, her placement in St. When I teach as an adjunct professor, I often have class discussions on the topic of reconciliation. ![]()
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