Reconciliation

Getting the account straight, both columns, and then deciding what you owe. In this course it does not mean making up, and it does not assume affection at either end of the process. You can reconcile an account and still close it.

Source: Course-coined, for this build. It takes the word in its bookkeeping sense rather than its diplomatic one, and it sits deliberately against the softer usage in reconciliation literature, where the word usually implies a restored relationship as the goal. Influenced by Richard’s own framing in the course direction memo: the aim is an argued decision about the Philippines, not a sentimental one.

First used in: 0.1 · Start where the shame is