Forgiveness

Forgiveness
Written by Editor

WE need religious institutions to continue to be the conscience of our nation, a moral custodian and a fearless champion of the interest of the weak, the poor and all the down trodden.

We say this because religion is a great force and it can help one command one's own morality, one's own behaviour and one's own attitude. The homily delivered by Archbishop Nicola Girasoli at Chilalantambo Parish in Choma over the weekend called on us to be ready to forgive and to forget, to avoid being jealousy.

Archbishop Girasoli said "many are ready to forgive, but not to forget. If we are not ready to forget, we shall never forgive. I see in Zambia a lot of resistance to forget: this touches all levels of civic, social and political life".

We agree with Archbishop Girasoli on the need to forgive but we have problems on forgetting. And this is because if there has to be true forgiveness, the primary requisite is to eradicate the cause of dissension between people. Forgiveness cannot remain just mere words; it has to be visible in concrete actions. It is said that true reconciliation is to seek and accept forgiveness. It doesn't say we should forget the past. We can forgive the past without forgetting it. We may be criticised when we say that whilst we can forgive, we can never forget. Those who have been subjected to injustices face the challenge of coming to terms with the past in ways which will enable them to face the future as a united people at peace with itself. Those who have been subjected to injustice will always be determined to ensure that past injustices are known. This is so because it will help ensure that past injustices are not repeated. Knowing, and not forgetting, past injustices leave us less burdened by the past and unshackled to pursue a glorious future. We have no problem with forgiveness but we have a serious problem with forgetting past injustices. Forgiveness is necessary because you can't build a united nation on the basis of revenge. If you want to mobilise every section of the population to develop the country, to move the country out of poverty, you can't do it with feelings of hatred and revenge or permanent anger. Anger is something that should be a temporally feeling. One should be able to easily put aside anger and forgive and move on, particularly if one is involved in positive activities and attitudes. It is not easy to remain bitter and unforgiving if one is busy with constructive things.

But forgiveness does not mean that wrongdoing should go unpunished. Punishing a wrongdoer, sending a criminal to jail does not mean lack of forgiveness. Those who commit crimes, those who kill innocent citizens, those who rob or plunder their poor people's meagre resources and are responsible for injustice and evil deserve to be punished. Even in God's scheme of things, those who are responsible for injustice and evil would be punished in hell. Could that be interpreted as an expression of lack of 'forgiveness' and 'forgetting'? We have never felt hatred for individuals. It's not that we love our enemies. We don't; we haven't gotten that far. We understand why they are enemies.

When we call for a wrongdoer, a person who has blood on his hands, to be punished, we don't do it for the sake of not forgiving, of revenge. What's more, Jesus tells us we must love our enemies, those who do us wrong, those who mistreat us and perpetrate all sorts of injustices against us - He doesn't say we must not have enemies - and there is no greater love for a wrongdoer, a criminal, a thief than to prevent him from continuing in those wrongs, in those evils. We are not against Archbishop Girasoli's teachings or interpretation of the problem. We were taught that there was a constant struggle between good and evil, and evil had to be punished. We were taught that those who commit crimes and were responsible for injustice, evil would be punished in hell.

A lot of care should be taken because if we are not careful, we can easily be enticed to read forgiveness and forgetting as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Injustice must be fought and punished.

And forgiveness doesn't just come like that. It comes after the wrongdoers have confessed their sins and have sought forgiveness. Of what use would it be to forgive someone who has shown no contrition or remorse at all and are continuing to do the same wrong things. In that case what are you forgiving? And what should you forget? In the political arena it is only possible where there is an attempt to adhere to the rules of fair play and respect for the legitimate rights of others. For as long as the majority of the people feel they are not allowed to participate meaningfully in the governance of their country, their communities, in the decision making processes, and cannot elect or choose their own leaders in free and fair elections that are devoid of cheating, manipulation, deceit or indeed rigging, there will always be tension and conflicts; Forgiving and forgetting will not be possible.

We cannot be called upon to be indifferent to these evils in the name of forgiveness and forgetting. This type of indifference will actually be criminal on our part and the future generations will judge us harshly for it.

On the issue of jealousy, again a distinction must be made here between what we may call the ordinary jealousy and the jealousy that arises from inequalities that are caused by corruption. Detesting and standing up to fight someone who has become rich or prosperous as a result of stealing public funds is not an act of jealousy. This is not something people should be indifferent to.

While we accept that life is like a big wheel: the one who is at the top, tomorrow is at the bottom, it doesn't mean that if you happen to be at the bottom and the one who is at the top is abusing his office, he is stealing public funds then if you turn against him you are jealousy. If someone steals from the public, members of the public have a duty to fight that person. If someone steals your chicken at night you have every right to pursue him and get your chicken back. Doing so is not being jealousy or lacking the spirit of forgiveness and forgetting.

And it is very difficult not to have jealousy or envy in a society with very big social inequalities. As long as there is enormous inequalities among human beings, there won’t be any meaningful cooperation or even love and forgiveness among them. Of course ordinary envy is something that we should avoid because it is harmful to ourselves; it chokes us. Again to avoid jealousy and envy the best teachings on this are the religious ones. There is need for us to fully understand the logical and practical ways to overcome jealousy because this is something that can completely consume us. Jealousy inhibits our ability to manifest the things that we want in life; it just makes our lives miserable. And we should some practical logical ways to overcome it; we should find ways to avoid going mad with jealousy. Where there is great desire, there is absolutely potential for great creation. Where there is jealousy, there is great desire. Our work is to remove the jealousy and let our great desire manifest. It is said that our lives are the outer reflection of our most dominant inner thoughts. Therefore, the more we allow negative emotions such as jealousy and the thoughts that rouse envy, the more we attract less of what we want and more examples of others fulfilling our dreams. There is need to understand where jealousy comes from in order to eliminate the root cause. It is said that jealousy comes from a state of disconnection. It is said that this debilitating emotion comes from the severing of your relationship to Spirit, from the Truth of your being, the Truth that you are unlimited and pure potentiality. It also said that jealousy is an indication that you do not accept the Truth that you are inherently Divine and worth all that you desire just because you were born. Jealousy is your indication that you are afraid. You are afraid that you are not worth or good enough to have what you want. You are afraid that others have the power to take what you want away from you and that somehow you are defective, inadequate and not worth of a fulfilling life filled with love, prosperity, peace, security, beauty and the presence of God that you really desire. That's what the religious people teach us about jealousy. We are told that jealousy is the consequence of years of being told by others and by yourself that you don't deserve what you want. Jealousy comes from having low self-esteem and the inability to courageously and boldly believe in you. But you are worth and deserving of all that you desire. You are pure potentiality with the absolute power and unlimited potential to have, be, and do anything and everything you desire. You are a divine child of God born to live a fulfilling life filled with abundant, lavish prosperity and passionate, exuberant love. Give yourself the love and self-acceptance you deserve. That's all we can say on this type of jealousy, the ordinary jealousy.

In saying all this, we are not in any way trying to take away anything from the homily delivered by Archbishop Girasoli. We totally agree with him that there is need to be united through the discovery of common wounds and scars and that love is to break the war of indifference and to work for others. With love everything is possible.