One of the sweetest parts of my day as a young mother was kissing my sleeping children awake. Slipping quietly to their bedside or wherever they slept, I leaned down and gently brushed their warm, soft cheek with my lips. Murmuring my love, I tried to gently rouse them for whatever lay ahead.
Our country is waking up from a dream of fear and division, isolation and attack. We are clearing the fog of long-held assumptions that allowed forms of “othering” that lead us to reject people and even destroy the planet we rely on for life. As our eyes are adjusting to these truths, we can clearly see that we need a new way of moving forward.
This moment in history demands a unified approach to addressing the challenges we face. We can no longer afford to “other” and exclude or punish. We need to hold everyone in community if we hope to heal and address whatever lies ahead.
In my experience, restorative justice offers a pathway to do just that. It offers a paradigm for healing and strengthening communities through sharing our stories, honoring the value and dignity of each member, and collaborating to heal harms that confront and ultimately unite us.
During this pandemic, I have been developing online trainings that introduce different aspects of this restorative paradigm. They are my way of gently trying to awaken us to an ancient wisdom that recognizes we are all in this together and we each have an important part to play in meeting the challenges that lie ahead.
If you would like to learn more about these trainings, click here or visit my website to learn more about my approach to restorative justice. Thank you for indulging my memory and joining me in gently offering a new pathway to a brighter future.