On Yom Kippur, we should learn to reconcile through speaking and listening

Article published on September, 14th in INFOBAE

Yom Kippur, known in Spanish as “Forgiveness Day”, is a day of reconciliation between humanity and God, each person with his neighbor and each person with himself.

We dedicate a whole day to harmonize the three elements that make up existence: God, the neighbor and oneself. We look for peace and balance to be able to project a better future. That peace is achieved with sincere forgiveness.

Society is divided and polarized: power disputes between political, economic and cultural groups assume more importance than the search for the common good.

The attack on someone who thinks, acts or lives differently seems to be an everyday thing. Tribalism, arrogance and contempt for the other prevail over dialogue, critical spirit and rational analysis.

We are also in conflict with God: we don’t get to match His creation with attitudes that promote harmony, we destroy the environment, we pollute nature, we blame God for our own mistakes.

Many times we live in conflict, angry and furious with ourselves. We don’t accept ourselves as we are. We act or adopt imposed artificial postures. We want to achieve goals set by society such as money, fame, and power. So we live in a constant dichotomy between what we want to be and what is imposed by society.

How can we get out of this negative situation? How can we think of a peaceful future?

The only way to reconciliation is forgiveness, and forgiveness is achieved through dialogue.

The prejudices that we have lead us to be reluctant to live harmoniously, with God, with others and even with ourselves. Conflicts arise because we do not bond with other people through dialogue, but through prejudice.

The attitude of opening our minds saves us from our own prejudices and allows us to discover and empathize with the other. This is achieved through dialogue.

The most dangerous thing is the prejudice against another human being for the mere fact of being, thinking or living differently. Intolerance and hatred have their origin in ignorance, which leads to the erroneous assumption that the other has certain defects.

On Yom Kippur we dialogue with ourselves, we confess, we speak with God, we direct our prayers to Him so that He inspires us and gives us wisdom, and, above everything, we meet with our family, friends and fellow human beings requesting their forgiveness for the faults committed and expressing our desire to renew our relationship.

Let’s value dialogue as the basic tool of society. Let’s learn to reconcile through speaking and listening. In this way we will be able to reduce the distances that separate us and find the long-awaited harmony, both with ourselves and with others and, ultimately, with God himself.

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