Acknowledgement

The first step in acknowledgment – facing the reality of one’s losses – can be aided by:

• Mourning and grieving
• Remembering the events
• Recognizing the reality that life has changed
• Using artistic expression, such as drawing, singing or poetry, to express and respond to what has happened
• Finding safe spaces to release frozen emotional and physical reactions by crying and trembling
• Engaging in funeral rituals for those who died
• Constructing memorials to remember the events and those who suffered or died
• Naming and facing fears about the future
• Recognizing and affirming ways the community has survived and overcome trauma

The second step in acknowledgement – seeking to understand the experience of others, including one’s "enemies" – can be furthered by:

• Trying to understand the causes and consequences of a traumatic event from multiple vantage points
• Where other people were involved in causing suffering and trauma, trying to understand what they actually did and why
• Recognizing the ways in which all people are in some measure caught up in circumstances and events beyond their control
• Acknowledging one’s own weaknesses and failings
• Asking not just, “Why us?” but also, “What did others do (for better and for worse)?” “What did we do?” and “What else might we have done?”

Top