Forgiveness

I've been focusing a lot reading and thought to the aspect of forgiveness lately. I'm reading a widely popular book called The Miracle of Forgiveness, and have been thinking about it from a few different perspectives. So far, I've come to the conclusion that everyone must forgive. No matter what.

It's hard. Really hard. But I worry that if you can't forgive people that do things to you, how can you expect to be forgiven for the many mistakes you make during your life?

A great example of forgiveness is the Amish School Shooting, a heart-wrenching massacre that happened almost 2 years ago. A man came into a one-room school house and let everyone go, except 10 young girls between the ages of 6-13. As police arrived and the atmosphere became tense, the killer Charles C. Roberts IV felt trapped, and shot almost all the girls before shooting himself.

The story is tragic and sad. 5 girls were killed and many of the surviving girls will suffer from the effects of this heinous act for their entire lives. But if there's anything positive that can be pulled from this horrible event, it's forgiveness. The Amish forgave Charles C. Roberts IV the day of the shooting. Could you forgive the man that murdered your young daughter or sister or friend on the same day of the murder? I couldn't. There's no way. I wish I could say I could, but I just haven't reached that point yet.

What an example.

Links to the Amish School Shooting
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/us/31amish.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/29/earlyshow/main2622842.shtml