"You killed my wife with my child. I will not do wrong to you. I forgive you."

[Rusty5329]

In 1994, one of the worst atrocities of my lifetime happened while the world calmly looked the other way. For 100 days, "one group slaughtered another at the rate of 10,000 a day." It was cruel and inhuman, things beyond the nightmares of our worst horror films. When all was done, some brilliant, courageous minds called for forgiveness...

Continued with PBS video report on reconciliation at http://www.sumofchange.com/article_read.php?a=111

[Bluerthanblue]

1. this is so poignantly ....beautiful.

if such a word could ever be used under the circumstances.

Thank you for posting this.


:grouphug:

[Rusty5329]

3. thanks...

I vividly remember watching videos of reconciliation in school and all the anger in our country right now keeps reminding me of how brave some people are.

[Bluerthanblue]

6. you are right, it IS brave,

and progressive, and the promise of something better.

Somewhere I read a comment concerning being a conscientious objector. It said something like it's easier to be brave when you are holding a weapon- This reminds me of that. Revenge, (often called 'justice') is pretty instinctual imo. When we are hurt our first reaction is to hurt back, but that only keeps the hurt spiraling- the cycle going. We CAN evolve. We must evolve.


thanks again.

[aquart]

2. When a nation is too weak or unwilling to prevent internal massacre

There is very little anyone outside can do. Rescue comes down to individual acts of courage.

It seems as if the Great Powers could ride to the rescue anywhere they choose, but it isn't true. If we haven't learned that in Iraq and Afghanistan, we've learned nothing.

Truth and Reconciliation may be the greatest thing to come out of Africa since bipedalism.

[mike_c]

11. "Truth and Reconciliation may be the greatest thing to come out of Africa since bipedalism."

+1. :thumbsup:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Bosnia.

[aquart]

17. Yeah, I was thinking of that, too.

I was remembering the UN people forced to stand and watch while the Serbs separated out Muslim men and bused them away to their mass graves. And then throwing their UN berets on the ground at the airport.

A friend of mine who worked for WaPo at the time said Clinton was running around desperately trying to get European agreement to intervene. But Europe wouldn't agree until the Serbs started up in Kosovo. Guess they thought they were getting too ambitious.

[redwitch]

4. My young friend recently went to Rwanda.

The photographs and the stories she told, simply amazing. If the Rwandan people can come together after this it is truly the most amazing human tale ever told. Such forgiveness is a miracle.

[gratuitous]

5. I read the subject line, and knew immediately the speaker wasn't an American

Land of the free, home of the brave, greatest nation on earth and in the history of the world and all that jazz. God bless America.

[Bluerthanblue]

7. there are some American voices which speak like this,

but they are usually ignored, ridiculed, or dismissed as aberrations.

The Amish community responded to a terrible situation with compassion- it's not something our media feels comfortable promoting imo.

[MagickMuffin]

8. Except for that Amish school shooting back in ancient history of 2006

The Amish school shooting was a shooting at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 2006. Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and eventually shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse.

The emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation in the response of the Amish community was widely discussed in the national media. The West Nickel Mines School was torn down, and a new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope School, was built at another location.

On the day of the shooting, a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls was heard warning some young relatives not to hate the killer, saying, "We must not think evil of this man." Another Amish father noted, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God."

Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_school_shooting


There is a book and movie out about this.


:hi:

[MagickMuffin]

9. This past week I attended a Mystical Weekend Workshop in which Forgiveness was a major topic

Not only do we have to forgive others but we also have to forgive ourselves. Forgiveness is a VERY powerful force and should be practiced more often.

However, it isn't something that comes easy. One has to really want to forgive.


Thanks for posting this will check out the link later.

:hi:

edit: typo

[gratuitous]

10. Yeah, but forgiveness doesn't blow things up reel gud

And the teevee needs graphic images of explosions and stuff (from a safe distance so that the folks at home aren't discomforted by the screams of those under the bombs or the unnerving sight of body parts flying through the air). Forgiveness just doesn't do that, you know? So we have to be egged on toward violence to redeem the situation and to make us all feel better and to resolve the problem. Okay, so violence doesn't do anything of the sort; but it does blow stuff up reel gud; you have to admit that.

[MagickMuffin]

14. Forgiveness comes from Within, you have to WANT to FORGIVE

It's as simple as that.

And yes, I struggle with this just as much as I struggle to send Love to people who spew Hate. But it has to start somewhere and it has to start with me. Does that mean I support the hate mongers, of course not. But being a Mystic requires one to step outside of the emotions of Ego and do what it takes to spread Love, Light, and Peace throughout the World. It is becoming easier for me.

[Bluerthanblue]

16. +1,000,000!

:hug:

"We must BE the change we wish to see in the world"-

[wookie72]

12. Forgiveness is the highest virtue possible NT

[wookie72]

13. Here's a link to a book with a similar story...

http://www.amazon.com/Shall-Not-Hate-Doctors-Journey/dp/0307358887/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282841431&sr=8-1

[Bluerthanblue]

18. here's a link to the Forgiveness Project

pretty awesome

http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/

[Rusty5329]

19. thanks so much! Definitely checking it out, n/t