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May 6, 2014
"To treat anyone as if they were less than human, less than a brother or a sister, no matter what they have done, is to contravene the very laws of our humanity." ---Desmond Tutu-
Desmond Tutu On Why We Forgive
Desmond Tutu is what Gandhi would call a "practical idealist." He believes in the practical, healing power of forgiveness because he sees it as more than a virtue; to him, it is a supreme gift, which we can give either partially or unconditionally. He opts for the latter because with it, he sees a greater freedom for the individual who has been harmed. Forgiveness is not forgetting, he points out, it's an invitation to be courageous and to go against the grain of the sense of radical separation that makes violence possible. Forgiveness is more than a concept; it's an experiential recognition of our common humanity, which has the power to heal both the victim and the perpetrator.
BE THE CHANGE
Think of a time when you were either on the giving or receiving side of forgiveness. Find time to talk to someone today about how it felt.
