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The close call could not have been closer. But having relied on miracles to get back from the brink, Thailand now has to muster every ounce of collective determination and ability to forgive and forget, and to deal with the seemingly indelible scar of the last few days so we can move forward as a nation. It will be a long road of rehabilitation - if rehabilitation can really begin at all, that is.

It's an irony that, to sympathisers of the red-shirted protesters, they came to rally in Bangkok because they felt alienated, and now they have to go back home having alienated themselves through their aggression, which for some time made everyone fear a civil war. The government, having politically benefited from the red-shirted protesters' self-alienation, now has the job of quickly fixing what must be a deep sense of isolation. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has rightly approached the crisis with an "everyone is Thai" principle, and now he has to implement that philosophy post-crisis, to heal national wounds.

Nobody is the winner and the nation as a whole has been down for a count of eight. While Abhisit has come through a major challenge and should be commended for his cool-headed response to a series of emergencies - which could have easily degenerated into something much worse - the next challenge is bigger. He more or less has won over some neutrals, but unless he reaches far beyond his political comfort zone, rehabilitation will prove very difficult indeed.

For the red-shirted movement, it has been the campaign of a frustrated, angry young man who turned to violence when all else failed. Further autopsy is needed to determine if that angry young man was also badly confused. Was he really upset with the Privy Council and honestly convinced that Thailand is still better off with a constitutional monarchy but for some manipulative advisers to His Majesty the King? Did he or did he not love Thaksin Shinawatra? Was he campaigning for the rich fugitive whom he liked as a leader, or was he fighting for real values far beyond that highly controversial politician?

Whatever the answers, the angry young man may have only been temporarily subdued after making a big blunder. The red-shirt "victory" declared after the cancellation of the Asean Summit in Pattaya was apparently mistaken as a licence to up the stakes and run amok. What the angry young man did not realise was that, as he seemingly was chasing his opponent around the ring, he completely lowered his own guard. He forgot the rules of the game - and the rest is history.

Will he get even angrier when waking up from the daze? To understand that angry young man is as difficult as making him understand you in return. It is Abhisit's duty is to find out if a political movement seen as deeply associated with Thaksin in fact possesses some other driving energies that everyone may have overlooked.

As for Thaksin, his calls for His Majesty the King to intervene at the height of the crisis still had the characteristic double meaning. The former leader may have been shocked by how fast things were deteriorating and therefore probably came back to his senses. Or it could have been just another of his politically motivated statements that can't be taken too seriously. After all, with the rampaging red-shirted protesters looking up to him as the idol, Thaksin was in a better position than anyone else to calm them down.

Rehabilitation without Thaksin's involvement will be difficult, though possible. Rehabilitation with Thaksin's sincere participation will make things easier, but that scenario is far less possible. He has become even more adamant than before that he is a victim of an anti-democracy conspiracy and never admits that he has been a big part, if not the root cause, of the Thai crisis.

The wounds are leaving deep scars. Although in terms of casualties this "Black Songkran" is less cursed than the October 6, 1976 bloodbath, the May 1992 crisis and last year's October 7 infamy, we all know that this could have easily been the worst of them all. It's a close call of the kind that makes people with common sense review their own acts, not others', in its aftermath.

It's our duty to find hope when desperation seems to prevail. We can take heart at the way the troops generally handled the situation, and how the majority of the protesters at Government House responded to the setback and sacrificed "victory" for the common interest. Some good principles have seemed evident on both sides, and merging them instead of making them clash is the only way forward. Difficult as it looks, we don't have other choices. Reconciliation has for too long been a fashionable word, whereas both sides of the divide were firmly on their toes, ready to pounce at each other. As a result, we have fallen as a nation, and only through realising this can we get up together again.