Devon DickDURING THIS Lenten season the electronic media continue to broadcast messages from Mead-Haven Ministers' Fraternal under the theme, 'No forgiveness, no future'. This message is as apt today as it was when that forgiveness campaign was launched last year. In Jamaica, revenge killing is still the number one motive for murders. Israelis and Palestinians continue to kill each other with no end in sight.
Since the launch of the campaign, the Mead-Haven Ministers have evaluated the effectiveness of the media blitz on television and radio aired courtesy of the media houses; the answering of questions at The Gleaner's chat room and hosting of information on the Go-Jamaica website; the phone hot-line monitored by Jamaica Theological College students and a phone line donated by Cable and Wireless. All these things have had varying levels of success.
STEPS TO FORGIVENESS
In addition, the Church of the Reconciliation in Portmore, St. Catherine under the leadership of Father Walter Dorsey implemented seven steps to forgiveness. He also invited Mrs. Yvonne Sobers of FAST and some mothers of boys who were killed in the Braeton Seven incident to participate in the worship service. Still, some ask, what really is forgiveness?
Many persons still misunderstand forgiveness. Three popular misunderstandings are that forgiveness means to forget the past, to feel no hurt and to seek no justice.
It is popular for persons to say let us forget what has happened and move on, meaning that it is not necessary to ascertain what happened or to give account of what happened. This is to perpetuate injustice and a failure to learn from the past. This leads to a victim's suffering being glossed over, as no big thing while the offender is not being accountable for actions.
So a child is a victim of incest and all family members call for forgiveness, meaning that no one should mention it. It also happens in politics. People want us to forget about how President Bertrand Aristide of Haiti gave up his presidency and to concentrate only on the reality of a new government.
However, forgiveness is not a rejection of the past but rather an unwillingness to allow the past to determine the future after scrutinising the past. For forgiveness to take place then one must truly understand what happened. Jesus Christ forgave his crucifiers because he knew what they did even if they did not know what they were doing.
HURT
The other mistake is to claim that forgiveness means feeling no hurt. Recently, a Christian lady said that she feels no hurt when persons do her wrong. She just forgives. However, forgiveness is not a denial of the hurt. In fact, it is to acknowledge the pain caused by the offence while not hating the offender. Human beings have emotions and the ability to feel pain and hurt when offended. Forgiveness is not an attempt to make one a stoic emotional zombie who is not affected by pain. One of the first steps in forgiveness is to admit that we have been hurt.
Not to mention, there are those who feel that to forgive someone is to give up the right to seek justice. It is possible for someone to shoot you and cause you to be in a wheelchair and you forgive that person, meaning that one feels no hatred or bitterness toward that person yet still one wants the person to be punished by the justice system. Forgiveness and justice can go hand in hand.
Forgiveness is an attempt not to be hurt twice by the same action. After feeling the initial hurt, it is to release ourselves of the need for revenge by ridding ourselves of hatred toward the offender.
There will be no end to the cycle of killings between Jamaicans, Israelis, and Palestinians until one understands and practises forgiveness. The Mead-Haven Minister's Fraternal is right to echo Archbishop Desmond Tutu's statement that, 'No forgiveness, no future'.
Forgiveness can be defined as, having understood the offence and having acknowledged the hurt caused by the offence, one still refrains from hating the offender or taking any unilateral action of revenge against the offender while reserving the option to seek justice through approved channels.
The Rev. Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church.
