Nature
gives us a panoramic view of existence and of life on earth. Through
different species that we meet, we can see how our world is full of
all kinds of diversities and species according to the environment in
which they live. And men are not immune to it.
There
are different cultures and different races that govern the existence
of man on earth. And all these groups of people of different places,
of different times and different spaces have their features which
separate them.
And
no one who has any awareness of human interaction can deny that there
are divisions in society which are antithetical to human progress in
general.
But
what would a conversation look like if that was focused on bringing
people together as opposed to driving them apart?
And
if forgiveness was a crucial element of such a conversation?
First
and foremost, forgiveness is the choice that a person makes to
forgive another person or group for an offense or something that is
illegal or immoral. And forgiveness is intentional and voluntary.
When someone forgives someone else, they let go of negative emotions.
And
before talking about bringing people together through forgiveness as
a crucial element, we should first know where we are coming from. And
what separated us? Because if forgiveness is a crucial element of
such a conversation, it means that there has been an underlying
problem that led to this separation. For we can't talk about
forgiveness without there being something wrong somewhere.
And
to understand that and to offer solutions by bringing parties
together with forgiveness as the driving force, we should go back to
the beginning, to see the origin of this driving apart.
Judeo-Christian
thought explains it clearly.
The
Bible tells us: God created man, and the man created by God was
both
man and woman (�before the coming of Eve� read Genesis
1:1-26).
At
the beginning, everything was brought together with the same thought:
to worship God. And after the downfall of our ancestors (Adam
and Eve), we kept this idea of coming together among us. And the
evidence of that is: All the men in common agreement decided to build
a tower called Babel.
That
was the sign both of bringing people together and of their driving
apart. Because it's through this work that separation came into the
world, that we have had many languages...(read Genesis 11:1-9).
To
bring together means to join two objects together. And bringing
together is an act that allows people to get over their differences,
their divergences in order to be together. And before all this
bringing together, there is work that's done beforehand, and this
work begins with forgiveness.
Through
the circumstances of life, it happened that people of one race sold
people from other races as slaves. This is what we call the slave
trade.
Because
of this practice, there was a gap created between two races in
particular included in this event: the dominant race and the
dominated race.
And
through the years, there was a separation created between these two
races. One claimed to be exploited, and the other needed the latter
in order to exploit him.
These
two races were driven apart because of this situation. But in
1807-1808 the slave trade was abolished. The slave trade was the
symbol of driving the white race and the black race apart.
And
its abolition was the symbol of a reconciliation between both races.
And that reconciliation should necessarily pass through the
forgiveness.
We
saw one the biggest slave traders transformed, having a changed life
by getting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. That is, he
recognized his faults, his sins (chiefly trading slaves), and
certainly asked forgiveness of the slaves that he had under his
command and got forgiveness from his new master Jesus Christ.
This man was John Newton.
And
because of the forgiveness he received, he wrote through inspiration
one of the best songs of all time, Amazing Grace, that brought
together all the races of the world.
In
1948, a system of institutionalized racial segregation started in
South Africa and Southwest Africa called apartheid.
Nelson
Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary. And because of that, he
served twenty-seven years in prison. Once he was out, he preached
racial reconciliation. And before bringing all races of South Africa
together, there was a process that led to forgiveness, initiated by
Mandela and the man he replaced, de Klerk.
Forgiveness
was crucial for the peace and the bringing together of all South
Africans, and that led Mandela to become president of South Africa
(1994-1999). And forgiveness was the first step to do for bringing
together all South Africans.
It
was through internal tensions in general and the question of Berlin
(1948-1949) in particular that the division of Germany into two
states materialized. On May 13, 1949, the Federal Republic of
Germany, a parliamentary democracy, was born. Five months later, in
response, the communist German Democratic Republic was established in
the east, bounded by the Oder-Neisse border.
October
3, 1990, was the day of German reunification, after 50 years of
partition between East Germany and West Germany. But this date of
October 3, 1990, was only the culmination, the formalization of a
long process which allowed this reunification. In other words, before
reunification, there was reconciliation. And whoever says
reconciliation says forgiveness.
We
can see that before reunification, West and East Germans forgave each
other, which led to reunification.
According
to Christian belief, Jesus Christ was lifted up and got a name above
every name because he humbled himself and forgave those who
persecuted him. And through forgiveness, he succeeded in bringing
together every person of all nations, of all races and ethnic groups
of the earth who believe or will believe in his name and led them to
God the Father.
And
in all conflicts or wars in the world, so that both parties can come
together or reach a consensus, there is a step that each must take,
which is reconciliation. So, forgiveness is the best revenge, for it
is the power that sets people free.