When the word Forgiveness is mentioned,it is often conveyed to people that it is based on Gandhi's and/or other western or foreign teachings. Gandhi quoted the following on forgiveness "The weak can never forgive.Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong ".Also Gandhi's "Show the other cheek" policy is well known, which indirectly conveys the message of forgiving,however a lesser known fact is that this policy of Gandhi is directly inspired from the Christian faith,from Jesus Christ' Sermon on the Mount where he preached to people about Loving their enemies and turning the other cheek when someone smites you on one.
However,what was the implication of Christ and Gandhi's teachings? Was it merely arbitrary or was there a deeper meaning and rationale behind it?
Forgiving any wrong doing by someone is not child's play in any outlook. The instinctive and deep human desire for vengeance is awakened when someone is at the receiving end of another's purposeful folly, be it physical or mental. Being a human,I know how burdensome it is to forgive somebody who has intentionally caused harm or loss to me,especially when the aggressor has no remorse for his/her actions. I still remember an incident from school where a guy had seemed to underestimate my abilities and began bullying me to derive fun or pleasure. I had a desperate urge to beat him up or get physical which was left incomplete to this day. But later, I realised one element. Someone else too a couple of years earlier in school faced the brunt of my bullying because I considered that particular guy to be stupid and dumb and hence bullied him along with several others,for which he has forgiven me,no matter the circumstances or the intention behind it.
It did not end there.Several years down the line,people have sought to take advantage of my nature,character and leniency mainly in the organizations I had worked in.
The above was just a tiny example of the wrong I have inflicted on another soul. Me,along with almost every other child has wronged their parents and elders throughout their childhood,either through disobeying our parents orders or by being a disappointment when it comes to exercising our responsibilities or in any other manner. Our parents,teachers and elders have had a large heart to forgive us for all our follies,negligence,irresponsibility and so on,countless times over and over again. If they could do so,why cant I?
Coming to the main point,whenever situations turned against me due to another person(s),the instinctive nature of seeking revenge or hoping that they learn a bitter lesson arose in me, but my conscience repeatedly told me that I had been forgiven several times and I had no right to hope for anyone else' downfall due to their misdeeds.
My personal agenda is that nobody in this world is perfect in any manner or sense,specially when it comes to our feelings,emotions,ideologies or other thought processes.
Throughout history,down through the ages until the present day,we have heard of numerous examples of individuals to institutions,communities,nations,and so on exercising this principle of forgiveness.Some of the accounts of the Jewish Holocaust survivors,mention them having forgiven the Nazis after having lost their entire families to this tragedy.
A few years ago,I read as well had seen a television interview of a man who had lost all his family members in communal violence but had chosen to forgive the perpetrators of those heinous crimes.He mentioned that through this alone,he could in a tiny way,through a small step aid in making this world a better place to live in. Even recently on a facebook video,I saw a Muslim man in the US who decided to forgive a criminal who murdered his son at his workplace at a pizzeria.
The examples mentioned above are miniscule or microscopic yet the list is endless.But don't these examples prove to us that forgiving is not an impossible task at all! One just needs to sit down and think positively or open mindedly and realise that this is a great virtue in itself. We humans are distinct from all other living beings due to our ability to reason out as well possess emotional and or spiritual qualities or senses. Why not use something that is bestowed upon us as a gift from the Almighty to advance this virtue even further in order to improve the current condition of this society and world we live in?
I would like to end with this quote by world famous author Mr Leo Tolstoy " Let us forgive each other,only then will we live in peace ".
