They Know Not What They Do...

Here is an example of a victim who has every entitlement to want justice and revenge, but has chosen true courage and forgiveness. "THE man who horrifically injured a student after he threw a traffic cone from a bridge today escaped a jail sentence - after a plea from his victim... ...The 24-year-old postgraduate occupational therapy student suffered a badly broken skull and three fractured vertebrae in her spine. Her arms and legs were paralysed. However, the courageous victim, who is making a good recovery at home in Ireland - but is likely to have weakness in one or more limbs for the rest of her life - said she did not want to see Smith go to jail for his crime." - The Scotsman In other recent news, a would be suicide bomber was forgiven by Afghanistans President Hamid Karzai. "Rafiqullah's father, a poor tradesman from South Waziristan in Pakistan, had sent his son to a madrassa to learn the Koran. Later, when he asked where his son was, the teachers brushed him off, he said. Last month the boy was caught wearing a suicide vest on a motorcycle in the city of Khost... ..."You are now free and forgiven by the people of Afghanistan," [Karzai] told the boy with a smile." - The Sydney Morning Herald It brings to mind the stories of Anthony Walker's mother, Abigail Witchalls and Gordon Wilson. It strikes me that that these people know something about the human condition, the darkness that exists in the human heart. They also are aware on some level of their own failings and weaknesses. They understand what the Bruderhofs' Johann Christoph Arnold meant when he said: "Far from leaving us weak and vulnerable, forgiving empowers our lives and our work. It brings true closure to the most difficult situations, for it allows us to lay aside the riddles of retribution and human justice and to experience true peace of heart. More than that, it sets into motion a positive chain reaction that brings the fruits of our forgiveness to others." - The Lost Art of Forgiving A favourite quote of mine is from George MacDonald: "It may be infinitely worse to refuse to forgive than to murder, because the latter may be an impulse of a moment of heat, whereas the former is a cold and deliberate choice of the heart." The reality is that anyone can be a victim, it doesn't take brains or strength, just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just as anyone can be a victim, anyone can condemn a murderer, rapist, bomber or any other offender. It doesn't take courage to recognise that someone has done wrong, or to celebrate when the offender is brought to justice. That's just natural. What does take courage and strength, however is to choose to forgive an offender when you have every right to be angry and demand justice. When you are innocent and they have acted with evil intent. Forgiveness is when you cross from living as a victim, to living as a righteous person. But before I'm accused of preachifying, like everyone else, I don't find it easy to forgive either. Forgiveness, or rather, the attitude of forgiveness is a hard one to master. But I recognise the importance and the help it has given me in my own life. Both me and my brother have had our fair share of childhood trauma. Many senseless things took place that were difficult to understand. If you want to hear what a victim sounds like I have a list as long as my arm of things I could tell you. I don't, however make a point of sharing these things on this blog because I do not want to be defined by what happens to me. I see these things as challenges, things to overcome, rather than depend on sympathy of others. Of course, I have mentioned some of my experiences in passing, when they have been relevant to a discussion. This makes sense. But I try to keep things relevant, to avoid emotional appeals and embarrassment. The point is, I have forgiven the things of the past, and will continue to forgive the things of the present. I think Martin Luthor King put it best in his 1957 Advice For Living Paper, where he speaks of love, but he's talking about the act of love that is forgiveness (ie. not returning 'hate for hate'): "Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love. Moreover, love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the "fight fire with fire" method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos; the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and the creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that. Yes love--which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one's enemies--is the solution to the race problem. Often love is crucified and buried in a grave, but in the long run it rises up and redeems even that which crucifies it." - Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement (Advice for Living) Forgiveness is not burying ones head in the sand, it is actively making a choice to restore a broken relationship, whether it is a family, friendship or to the community. Even when standing against injustice (and I refer to the bibles intepretation of injustice, not the Daily Mail), and hypocrisy, an attitude of forgiveness is needed. The objective should be to see a person, organisation or company change its ways. As Alan Paton put it, "An offender can be punished... But to punish and not to restore, that is the greatest of all offences... If a man takes unto himself God's right to punish, then he must also take upon himself God's promise to restore." This means in criticism we should always try to offer a way out, offer a way for someone to admit their fault gracefully. Uh huh, something I am aware of and attempt to do, but admittedly I fail on occasion.