I love that you include “the environment” in your definition of the “interconnected web.” However, I prefer this language when describing the web of relations: “humans, non-human species, and the habitats which sustain us all.” I think that this wording gives greater specificity in a way that is both challenging and encourages mindfulness in all our relationships. It can call us to reflect upon the exceptional value we place upon human lives at the expense of the lives of other species and habitats–a frame of mind that is not only unsustainable, but that is a foundation of many systemic injustices. I have not included “institutions” in my phrasing but am inspired by your wording to do so in the future.

On the third point, I agree entirely, but with this caveat: it is important to balance taking personal responsibility with a clear awareness of what role other’s peoples issues play in conflict. It is not restorative to own too much. When we do we may deprive others of their opportunity to take responsibility, and the learning and growing that can result when they do.

The parenthetical statement with point seven has proven difficult for some people to parse. I say this because I shared this list with a class on restorative justice I was teaching at a university, and many of the students weren’t sure what you meant. Perhaps: “If you can set aside the need to be right, what new possibilities might emerge? Consider being guided by these possibilities.”

Those are my suggestions. Thanks again for your ongoing leadership and vision for justice.

Alex

The suggestion I would give would be “humility”. As I study RJ, it seems more and more apparent that we need to be remembering humility. Maybe it is just me, but, that is not easy.

Merry Christmas from Fresno

It would be interesting, now, to start asking ourselves if there is a common principle that lays behind these rules and that keeps them within a coherent frame.

I would imagine, in that role, “the principle of dialogue”, meant in classical terms: the principle according to which each person has a dialogical structure: no-one can be treated as an object, no-one can be put to silence as if she/he was superficial.
This might also help thinking that rules have an enormous practical importance, but it is a principle – and the neverending attempt to translate it into reality – which constantly invites to act in a respectful, restorative way.

Federico.

Dr. Howard Zehr, professor of Restorative Justice at ��ݮ����’s graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, outlines 10 ways to live restoratively…….

If we believe that God is the creator of all life, then we cannot assume that some lives have more value than others. We cannot therefore assert with honesty that God has more love for some people than for others or that God would support violence agai…