It’s not easy to make sense of the current protests, especially not if there are attempts to distil our understanding into dualistic explanations of it’s either or. It’s this way or that way. As I have said before the protests contain aspects that seemingly don’t make sense and veer into contradiction or paradox. The big one for society seems to be ‘why destroy what it is you say you are fighting for’?

#AndreOlivier: A world where white people took nothing from black people is not a real world, it’s an imagined one. A South Africa where white people took nothing from black people is not a real South Africa, it’s an imagined one. A South Africa where white people gained the position in society that they occupy and the place in the economy that they enjoy through sheer hard work, is an imagined South Africa. It’s not real.

I was listening to a talk by Rob Bell and came across this great word: T’shuvah. What I understand from this is that it is an ancient word that encapsulates a whole lot of what we believe as Restorativists and Restorative Justice Practitioners. T’shuvah It’s the beginning and we are all created with the indelible mark of the creator or the divine. All bear this imprint. All of us. At a fundamental level we are good. We are created good. But all of us have capacity for harm. G

It’s been a tough start to our New Year in South Africa. Dicken’s Tale of Two Cities starts out: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Sometimes the worst we go through helps to break us open in a way that light can get in.