Reconciliation

Welcome to 2026! 😘

This post is about reconciliation.

Reconciliation is the process of letting two or more disconnected strands of “something” come back to one another so they may become synchronised again.

If that sounds hard to process, I understand. The first time I ran into the word myself, I was still knee-deep into software programming. (Which is not to say I’m not into software at all any more — it was my passion for about three decennia, and they still say it’s the future…)

So instead of trying to explain theoretically, let me give some examples.

When two estranged (ex-)lovers find one another again — and I don’t merely mean bump into one another again, but I’m talking really seeing eye to eye — this is called reconciliation. It’s an intimate process, where both partners learn to find a deeper connection within one another. An understanding of each other that may have previously eluded them. A forgotten past that is being rediscovered, and for which they can finally find the courage to share and embrace.

When a family falls apart after the death of its matriarch or patriarch, and then decides to come together again after years of estrangement, that too is a step towards reconciliation. Families can be large, and these things can take a lot of time. Individual family members may need to rediscover their relationships. It doesn’t always work out, and sometimes that’s all right too…

But also when two enemies, who have been at each other’s throats, sometimes for generations, enter a peace process that slowly teaches them to regain an inkling of trust from which they may attempt to rebuild something that could become a somewhat productive relationship at some point in the future again, that too— is reconciliation.

It is my wish that 2026 can be a year of love, of healing, of reconciliation for the world, and a year in which people can learn to have faith in one another again.

Happy New Year! 🫶

Love, Arend.