This post is about a site that cracked open my heart, and made me look at the world in general and my life in particular in a new way. Brace yourself. It may haunt you. It isn't about blogging. It isn't just about women. But the issue addressed here - forgiveness - could save our world. I am rarely as moved by a single site as I was by this one. I share it with you as an act of faith and hope, a gesture toward one view of a revolutionary peace. I hope you will post your opinions.
The Forgiveness Project describes itself as
...a new organisation working with grassroots projects in the fields of conflict resolution, reconciliation and victim support.At a time when scenes of atrocity, conflict and crime fill our TV screens and newspapers, when tit-for-tat killings, attacks and counter-attacks seem to grab all the headlines, The Forgiveness Project aims to tell the quieter, less publicised stories of reconciliation. The stories of people who have discovered that the only way to move on in life, is to lay aside hatred and blame. Set up by a small team working purely independently with no religious or organisational affiliation, The Forgiveness Project consists of a touring exhibition (The F Word) that will build on an evolving collection of narratives.
Their supporters include people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Annie Lenox, Emma Thompson, Dame Helen Mirren.
A visit to this site will move you. It may change you. Here are some brief snippets of the people whose stories of forgiveness you will find there:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was the chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC was created by Nelson Mandela’s Government of National Unity in 1995 to help South Africans come to terms with their extremely troubled past. It was established to investigate the violations that took place between 1960 and 1994, to provide support and reparation to victims and their families, and to compile a full and objective record of the effects of apartheid on South African society.
At the age of ten, twins Eva and Miriam Mozes, were taken to Auschwitz where Dr Josef Mengele used them for medical experiments. Both survived, but Miriam died in 1993 when she developed cancer of the bladder as a consequence of the experiments done to her as a child. Eva Kor has since spoken explicitly about her experiences at Auschwitz and founded The C.A.N.D.L.E.S Holocaust museum in Indiana where she now lives. In 2003 the museum was destroyed in an arson attack, believed to be by white supremacists.
Salimata Badji-Knight, 37, was brought up in a Muslim community in Senegal, where she was circumcised at the age of five.
On July 7th, 2005, 26 people died and many were severely injured and maimed on London Underground's Piccadilly line. A suicide bomber was responsible. Gill Hicks miraculously survived but lost both her legs due to the explosion.
In March 2002 Robi Damelin’s son, David, was shot by a sniper while serving in the Israeli army. He was 28 years old.
During the Second World War Eric Lomax was tortured by the Japanese on the Burma-Siam Railway. 50 years later he met one of his tormentors.
There are over 40 stories in the Project, and it is growing. May it bring us all closer to peace.
Comments
Wonderful post
By: Kalyn Denny Posted: 1 year 13 weeks agoWhat a wonderful post Mata. I think forgiveness is very powerful.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Dear Kalyn - It sure is
By: Mata H Posted: 1 year 13 weeks agoDear Kalyn - It sure is powerful, and it is also something I struggle with. I have been thinking about doing some articles here about the spiritual struggle of forgiveness -- the "how" and "why" of forgiveness -- any interest in reading/discussing more about this? (<-- A question for both Kalyn and anyone else reading this.)
~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs relentlessly at Time's Fool