One journey, two paths, three goals, four domains.
This page is for exploring different elements of the framework
The Two Paths situational analysis framework is at the heart of the Reconciliation Seminar approach. It is a tool to help people review the situation they are dealing with to identify where critical issues and opportunities might lie.
The tool balances two primary needs. One is the need for justice and healing on the part of those who were harmed. The other is the need for responsiblity and a change of heart in those who have harmed others.
The hope embedded in this framework is that by meeting these needs, people move from harm to right relationships. This means the one harmed has the freedom (but not an obligation) to adopt compassion, enabling forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation. However, this is linked to the commitment by the one who harmed to adopt humility, expressed through apology, adapting their choices, providing reparation and restitution where practical, so also enabling reconciliation.
It is important to note in this framework, that reconciliation does not mean a return to the way things were before harm occurred. The previous state included the antecedents that led to harm. Any reconciled state has to take that risk into account as part of the design for any future right relationship.
It is also important to note that some situations may never reach reconciliation. This framework can help identify when this is the case, when there is no reasonable expectation that key elements of the different domains can be resolved. In low risk, low value situations, this may simply mean shrug and move on. But in high risk, high value situations, options such as victim protection or criminal or adiminstrative justice may be the focus and limit of what can be achieved. The framework will have served its purpose if it highlights the deficiencies of a situation so people can focus on keeping those harmed safe.
This is a guiding framework, since every situation is unique, so no check list can work. Rather, the framework presents a menu of key factors that can affect reconciliation in many situations. It's purpose is to support good decisions and practical initiatives to help people and groups recover.
Finally, this framework cannot replace skills, knowledge and practitioner experience for complex or high risk situations.