After the May elections, our leaders, whether they won or not, should now have started to find ways to reconnect relationships. Though it would depend on how profound the impact it had been that the recent elections have brought, but after all, everything has its end. Maintaining this outlook would help the recovery relatively easier and faster. And what else could be an opportunity to heal the bickering but an occasion where friends, relatives and families can get together.
For the month of May, especially in rural areas, people celebrate fiestas every day. It is a celebration that will not anymore be taken away from the society's social undertakings for it has religious underpinning. It has evolved as time passes by but the spirit behind remains practically the same. The social aspect of it needs to find a way to the Filipino psyche as this can be a tool for social and emotional healing.
Filipinos have the tendency to find ways for reconciliation without anymore recalling what has been considered as an unpleasant past. Recalling what happened would not anymore be the tall order but rather going with the flow of smooth interactions. This is one characteristic of Filipinos being not confrontational which facilitates the fast and easy reconciliation.
On a broader economic and social standpoint, genuine and sustainable peace must uphold the dignity of every man and woman. This can be nurtured by observing their rights and fulfilling their aspirations. At the same time, however, development is not sustainable if societies are not at peace with themselves and with their neighbors and living in environmental balance with the planet and its resources. Thus, peace and sustainable development complement and mutually reinforce each other.
In attaining peace and development, traditional and cultural undertakings play a major role. Contextually, it is the understanding of the social undertakings of the people in the locality. But with the interplay of a political exercise, like election, it brings about a divisive environment that is generally short-lived. This fleeting environment owes to the healing effect of social interactions. People find ways to regain the once harmonious relationship among them. This is the very idea of reconciliation that is generally understood to be the reestablishment of friendly relations. This is the once established environment where understanding abounds even with the awareness of each other's limitations. A kind of understanding that allows one to have a wider allowance of acceptability.
In social undertakings, there is a great deal of listening which takes the first step in reconciliation. The cultural anger that has broken through the carapace of civility is rooted in fear. Fear of change. Fear of losing. The despair of feeling that one has lost. We need to listen - and to create space and trust so people's fears can emerge, a relationship can be formed and differences can be honored rather than fought. After all, reconciliation is an ongoing journey of transformation toward a deeper friendship with others. Acts of reconciliation requires patience, given that the process requires space and time. If we are unable to find space and time for reconciliation, we need to create it.
Reconciliation requires an investment in hope - which is believing in spite of the evidence, and then watching the evidence change. One may think the current political landscape suggest that reconciliation is not possible. But our faith invites us to a vision of reconciliation and blessing. And those who are involved in intentional listening and reconciliation are beginning to see the fruits of renewed friendship.
Our social interactions in fiestas can be an avenue to renew our ties, grounded on pure and sincere intentions that understand our limitations and our vulnerability to the situation that alters our behavior and attitude especially in human connections.
May gives us the beautiful bloom of multihued flowers. This can also be an opportunity to experience regained and blooming relationships.