I am proud to introduce a new issue of the POIESIS journal during this critical period of human existence. As populations all over the world are threatened, we have to ask ourselves: What is worth saving? What is worth our dedication? The threat of futility hangs over us all. We have our daily lives and our routines, we strive to keep a semblance of normality during this abnormal time, but despair, the absence of hope, is always present.

When we began to plan for the publication of this issue of the journal, we envisioned it as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of The European Graduate School (EGS). The theme that we proposed was, Reconciliation, Celebration, Resilience. Now we have to ask ourselves: What does this reconciliation imply? The word itself means, to bring back together again. Certainly we do not want to reconcile ourselves to the fate of mass extinction. We strive mightily to overcome this, and the efforts made to do so are carried out by people working together. There is already reconciliation in the recognition of our interconnection.