What is the price we pay in our lives for not forgiving people? What price do families pay for not forgiving their neighbours? What price do nations pay for not forgiving other nations? What price does humanity pay for not forgiving?
What price does humanity pay? As I write this there are nuclear submarines from a number of nations, in the oceans of the world with weapons on board that are about 100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In fact they’ve enough weapons on board to destroy half the planet in an afternoon!
What price do nations pay? Well how much do the weapons on board the submarine cost, never mind the submarine? What is the price to the oceans? What is the price to the earth when these weapons are tested? How many hungry people could be fed? How many homeless people could be homed?
What price do families pay? A stressful existence trying to continue to hate the other family. A growing seed of hatred which can manifest itself as violence, drug and alcohol addiction and other harmful behaviours.
What price does business pay for resentment in the workplace. In financial terms probably millions. In personnel terms the same as most people will leave as soon as they can.
What price do we as individuals pay? We lose our true freedom. The more we resent others the less free we are. The more it eats inside us. We are prisoners of our past. This resentment we hold onto is the very seed which manifests itself on a global scale as the submarine which can destroy half the planet. Is this the legacy we wish to leave for our children?
If not then we MUST learn to forgive. Here are some practical suggestions:
1. If you have fallen out with someone RECONNECT – they may turn you away but you will be free. However more likely they may not even know they hurt you and most definetly didn’t intend to in the first place!
2. Do the opposite of what your “ego” is telling you to do – if your ego is saying “they were wrong and I’m never going to talk to them again”, go and do the exact opposite contact them asap and let it go.
3. Send them Love. If physically connecting is too big of a challenge to begin with, send them your love. As Dr Emotto, the water crystal scientist says send the following prayer to them:
[persons name] I love you; [persons name] I thank you; [persons name] I respect you
How do you measure if its working? Its very simple – You’ll FEEL FREE! You’ll also be helping humanity let go of the need for weapons of mass destruction and then we may all realise world peace.
Sometimes hearing a story about how someone else had the courage to forgive inspires us. I’ll finish this article with one I read in a book by Jean Vanier, entitled Finding Peace:
“When the German tanks rolled onto her family property in southern France in 1940, Maiti Girtanner, a young Frenchwoemn, was appalled and decided to join the resistance movement. She was eventually captured and tortured by a German doctor who specialised in crippling people by interfering with their central nervous system. She was the only one of twenty who survived but she lived afterwards in constant, excruciating pain. In 1984, in her simple apartment near Paris, she received a phone call and immediately recognised the voice as that of the German doctor. They met and shared together. She was able to forgive him. He had become the mayor of a small town in Austria, and on his return home from his visit with Maiti, he gathered together his family and the villagers and he told them the truth about his life. Two weeks later he died from cancer.”
Cultivate true freedom in your life by having the courage, even when its extremely difficult, to forgive. Most especially don’t let something thats truly trivial turn your life into a vengeful trial.
As Lewis B. Smedes said:
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you”
Forgive, Let go and Be Free
Go mbeidh siochain go deo ar thalamh on domhain – May Peace Prevail on Earth!
Sean M Kelly
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Go mbeidh sÃocháin go deo ar thalamh an domhain.
hi there Sean
Thankyou for your nuggets of vital wisdom and for this reminder keep on keeping on