Today is the first day of Apology Week 2017.
It is the third time I am observing this young gamma tradition. It is a week of abstention and meditation.
This week I will try to abstain as much as possible from certain sweet things in life. So no (added) sugars and light entertainment for me. I will also try to eat as vegan as possible. I may still add a few other things to stay away from. This tradition is still new.
No chocolate for a whole week already feels like a big sacrifice for me. More important is that I will meditate in the morning and evening about the collective guilt that I share as a human being.
I believe that I do have a share in the misery my species has caused in this world. Even though my personal conscience is relatively clear, there are innumerable ways in which I have taken some advantage or privilege, directly or indirectly, from acts of injustice committed by the likes of me, whether as a species as a whole or as part of a tribe.
Every day of Apology Week is dedicated to a specific theme.
- Day 1: Apologies to the earth
- Day 2: Apologies to animals
- Day 3: Apologies to (underprivileged) social groups
- Day 4: Apologies to (other) genders
- Day 5: Apologies to (other) cultural traditions
- Day 6: Apologies to (ethnic) minorities
- Day 7: Apologies to individuals (and all the rest)
By the end of the week, on the day of Winter Solstice, there can be no absolution.
Hopefully some good resolutions will have come into my mind, so I can make some difference in the new year. It does not have to be something big.
I should not become overwhelmed by collective guilt during Apology Week. Nobody can take the enormous weight of human collective guilt upon his or her shoulders. Collective guilt should always be handled in a just collective proportion.
There is also no chance that I will become a misanthrope during Apology Week. On the contrary, I firmly believe that all human beings always have the potential to do something good.
Apology Week is above all a week of reflection.
Feel free to join and create your own version!
On December 21st, just after sunset, Apology Week will end with a piece of pure, bittersweet chocolate.