Our last day together had a certain thickness in the air: the last morning of yoga, the last chatter of breakfast, the last morning greeting on the stage. Thursday had felt in many ways like a closing day, and some people had already left, or were busy packing and saying goodbye and planning their travels. It began as sort of both ongoing and already over, like Schrödinger trying to explain where a meeting of people ends.

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In the 'closing ceremony' we spoke about the powerful transformations and insights that came about throughout this week. We thanked everybody for their involvement, their effort and willingness to contribute to making this event a memorable one. We thanked the people that shared with us their stories, their vulnerabilities, their realities of discrimination and of privilege. They helped all of us in starting to uncover the underlying structures of power and privilege that we looked at in the past days.

A deeper understanding for the diversity of human experiences - also the uncomfortable ones - is what brought us deeper connection.

Also did we acknowledge that at Initiative Forum 'Beyond Borders' we did not transcend all borders, we do not pretend to have been 'beyond'. We acknowledge that structures of power and privilege were also reproduced, at the same time as being looked at.

Finally, we invited everyone to take the insights from the relevant themes that came up this week, and to make it a daily practice to work with them - In the conversations we have, in the things we stand up for, in the projects we take part in. It is a daily practice to be aware of our privileges and to aim for inclusion rather than discriminatory. In that sense the 'closing ceremony' was not a closing.

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It was the end of the week, yet it felt like the beginning of the real work
We talked about fight and consent, disadvantage and privilege, numbness and awareness, fear and trust. 

And we went trough it together even tough none of us could have foreseen how deep these topics would hurt us and challenge us, nor bring us together through the core of our more human questions. We experienced that, through conversation and vulnerability, it's possible to connect the polarities of the world we live in and find the meeting point.

Now its up to us to take responsibility for the insights gained this week and have the courage to act upon them.

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Peace.