To Forgive Is Divine

How hard is it to forgive someone you feel has wronged you somehow?

Not just cut you off in traffic or wormed into line ahead of you at the movies, but someone who really hurt you?

Yeah, it’s pretty hard. It’s much easier to get mad, lash out or nurse a lifelong grudge toward that person.

It’s just human nature.

But there’s a group that celebrates those who have risen above that basic human response and reached a level of forgiveness not usually witnessed.

It’s called the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, and when I visited their website I was blown away by the stories I read there.

 This group honors those who forgive, calling them “Heroes of Forgiveness.” And they truly are heroic.

The 2011 Heroes of Forgiveness – celebrated Aug. 7 on the 15th Annual Forgiveness Day — are Matthew Boger and Tim Zaal, who share an amazing story. Matthew was a 14-year-old gay teen when he was brutally beaten by a group of neo-Nazi skinheads led by Tim.

Twenty-six years later they met again, only this time Matthew and Tim were both involved in efforts to combat prejudice, racism and bullying.

A chance conversation resulted in them realizing they had met before under completely different, horrible circumstances. They formed a friendship and a program called HATE2HOPE, in which they share their story of forgiveness and redemption.

Other stories on the website are equally inspiring.

Heroes of Forgiveness from previous years include Chris Loukas and Steve Backman, who met in 1994 when a drunk-driving Backman hit Loukas’ car and nearly fatally injured Loukas.

Tortured by guilt, Backman went to see Loukas in his hospital bed. Loukas, in an act of supreme forgiveness, looked up at the man who had almost killed him and said, “Open up your arms and come here.”

The two men hugged and cried for several minutes. “The love and forgiveness (he) showed me was a miracle,´ said Backman. “When I walked out of that hospital room I weighed 500 pounds less. I saw everything in brilliant color when it had been black and white before.”

And then there’s five-year-old Kai Leigh Harriott, who was paralyzed by a bullet while sitting on her porch singing songs with her sister.

At the shooter’s sentencing, Kai Leigh told him: “What you done to me was wrong. But I still forgive you.”

Her child’s act of forgiveness also inspired her mom, Tonya David, to forgive the shooter. “Forgiveness to us is everything because what forgiveness does is free us,” she said. “It frees us so we can live, and we can move forward in our lives. We will be able to go forth, and Kai will be able to live her life without being held back.”

Simply awe-inspiring stuff.

And finally there’s the case of Michael Berg, whose son, Nicholas, was beheaded on video by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of al Qaida’s most wanted terrorists.

When Zarqawi was later killed by U.S. forces and Berg was asked for his reaction, he shocked his interviewer, saying he mourned Zarqawi’s death.

“He has a family who are reacting just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that,” Berg said.

Would you be able to find forgiveness in your heart if something similar happened to you?

I would like to believe I could.

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