Heck its a Monday and all but had a lesson on 'Forgiveness' over the weekend. I believe it's an overused word but
what's your take?The Interpreter:In Matobo, the Ku believe that the only way to end grief is to save a life. If someone is murdered, a year of mourning ends with a ritual that called
“the drowning man trial.” There’s an all-night party beside a river. At dawn, the killer is put in a boat. He’s taken out on the water and he’s dropped. He’s bound, so that he can’t swim. The family of the dead then has to make a choice. They can let him drown or they can swim out and save him.
The Ku believe that if the family lets the killer drown, they’ll have justice but spend the rest of their lives in mourning. But if they save him, if they admit that life isn’t always just, that very act can take away their sorrow.
Vengeance is a lazy form of grief.Amish grace:In 2006, Pennsylvania US, a 31yr old milk truck driver entered an one-room Amish schoolhouse with a 9mm handgun. He ordered 10 young girls to line up on the chalk board, and began shooting the victims before committing suicide. The gunman was not Amish, he had 3 children and a wife.
Now the Amish, a Christian denomination, are simple folk who live traditionally, and have dressed plainly for the last 100 years. On the same day of the shooting, Amish community members visited and comforted the gunman's widow and family, extending forgiveness to them. One Amish man held the gunman's sobbing father in his arms for more than one hour. The Amish community turned out in large numbers for the gunman's funeral.
Shortly before the gunman opened fire, the Amish girls recognized Roberts the milk truck driver. 13yr old Marian Fisher appealed to the gunman -
"shoot me first" - that the younger ones be spared, later saying
"I'll pray for you". It appears she had forgiven the gunman even before he took her life.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am...chool_shooting#Aftermath