Forgiveness: a great liberator
Published:Thursday | September 15, 2011 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THERE IS nothing fundamentally wrong with remembering past hurts. As a matter of fact, it can be very therapeutic and healing, for it is unhealthy to repress painful experiences.
However, what is harmful to our physical and mental health is the practice of remembering past hurts with hatred, anger, bitterness and resentment.
It may be said that this vortex of unresolved hatred and bitterness can become a prison in which there is perpetual torment and no peace of mind. And it can also be said that this miserable state of affairs is brought about by an unforgiving spirit. It has been said that one of the primary causes of divorce, unending strife and countless wars is the inability to forgive.
The unforgiving person tends to focus on punishment which leads to an eye-for-an-eye or get even-attitude for past hurts. Revenge is that person's watchword. But there is no doubt that the inability to forgive can have a disastrous effect on personal, national and international relationships.
Reconciliation, healing
There is also no doubt that the power of forgiveness can lead to reconciliation, peace and healing. There is no better example of this healing effect than the forgiving spirit of Nelson Mandela. Although he was brutally treated at the hands of a Hitlerite racist South African regime, at no time did Mandela seek revenge. He did not seek to get even when he finally became leader of the South African nation. He did not harbour or cherish bitterness in his heart.
On the contrary, he stretched forth his hand in friendship to the same people who reviled and incarcerated him. He reached out in a magnanimous spirit of reconciliation and healing. It can be said that his Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 1995 has become a template for all world leaders to copy and implement.
It was Catherine Ponder who said: "When you hold resentment towards another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free."
Thus, there is no doubt that forgiveness is a great liberator. If people would learn how to forgive there would probably be no conflicts or wars.
RUPERT JOHNSON
Toronto, Ontario