Justice, the Past and Moving Ahead; Yet Another Lesson from Egypt

Istanbul--Today's New York Times contains a story about Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who are now in jail in Egypt facing charges connected with their behavior during their father's administration.  While not really the thrust of the story, one quote attributed to Mohamed Salmawy, a novelist and the head of a writer's union, caught my eye:

'I am not sure that this in itself is going to make us move forward, because so far we have not moved forward, we have been walking with our heads backwards, looking to the past, talking about what happened, putting people on trial."

Salmawy goes on to express his frustration at the slow pace of reform post-Mubarak.  

The quote mirrors something we often observe in organizations that have been through protracted traumas and periods of injustice; e.g., that the quest to bring perpetrators to justice supersedes getting on with life and business.  We have sometimes wished that that teachers and others in our client schools could start looking forward and put aside the past.  And we always find that this is easy for us to say and hard for them to do, and now the Egypt/Murbarak situation helps me to understand why: sometimes, the past must be resolved--forgiven, understood, explored, avenged--before we can move on.

The problem, of course, is that history keeps going; it does not stop or slow down while we look backward.  The quest for justice eventually seems to block us from doing the things we need to do to be successful in the future.  The way out of this conundrum is to have a foot on two accelerators at once--to simultaneously pursue justice for past wrongs even as we plan and strategize for tomorrow, for both masters must be served.

Here's hoping Egypt can do both, as each is necessary, but not sufficient, for transformation.