Rural Pennsylvania can show the way...
Between Grad School (2 tests this week), coaching football (we're 5-0, ranked #6), and that damn paying job, free time, social life and sleep are distant memories. So too is any hope of keeping this blog up unfortunately. However, this kind of struck me, and although everyone already knows about it, I thought it was a big deal. Humanity is a messy thing, and the last couple weeks have been a horrible example of that. Between the school shootings, Mark Foley and the pages, Baghdad, the Sudan and Afghanistan, it's hard to feel overly hopeful for the world...but maybe the Amish can show us the way.
In this day and age where everyone who gets wronged instantly seeks revenge, the families of the girls who were killed in Pennsylvania expressed forgiveness for the killer and have sought to befriend his family and support them. Being vengeful might make them feel better in the short run, but it would just breed more anger, and ultimately wouldn't change anything. Law and justice are necessary, but vengence isn't, and it hasn't exactly proven to be a particularly effective tool either.
Not only is forgiveness and support the best thing for those involved and their community, but really, it's the best thing for anyone in the world who's watching. Maybe someone somewhere will be inspired to try that, forgiving their transgressor, trying to understand them and trying to do right by their families, rather than the "eye for an eye" that rules today. It would take a lot of courage, and it's probably not likely, but neither was Ghandi, King, or Mandela's success likely either.
In this day and age where everyone who gets wronged instantly seeks revenge, the families of the girls who were killed in Pennsylvania expressed forgiveness for the killer and have sought to befriend his family and support them. Being vengeful might make them feel better in the short run, but it would just breed more anger, and ultimately wouldn't change anything. Law and justice are necessary, but vengence isn't, and it hasn't exactly proven to be a particularly effective tool either.
Not only is forgiveness and support the best thing for those involved and their community, but really, it's the best thing for anyone in the world who's watching. Maybe someone somewhere will be inspired to try that, forgiving their transgressor, trying to understand them and trying to do right by their families, rather than the "eye for an eye" that rules today. It would take a lot of courage, and it's probably not likely, but neither was Ghandi, King, or Mandela's success likely either.