| February 11, 2008 | Volume 83, Number 8 | |
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ForgivenessWe’ve all heard about instances of road rage. Tempers flare when a driver feels another driver has cut him off and gotten ahead. An angry driver responds by honking his horn, shouting out the window or even giving an obscene gesture for all to see. Nobody wants to be a doormat, but there are just times when one has to let things go. To proceed with abusive anger is self-defeating. As hard as it may be to do so, the person who has been cut off might even want to forgive the driver who so angered him. A new documentary film “The Power of Forgiveness” was to be shown on Feb. 10 at the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond. The film is a collection of seven short stories which describe horrible situations of cruelty and how the wronged person or parties react. Among the stories are how the Amish community dealt with the killing of five innocent children in their school and the response of people who lost their loved ones in Ground Zero. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, speaks on forgiveness in the Jewish tradition. Obviously, forgiveness is the desired Christian response. But for many people it is the hardest thing to do — even for those who adhere clearly to Christian teachings. People who feel that another person has wronged them can let the anger eat at their soul to the point that it takes complete control of their life. Life almost becomes a bitter endurance contest. The joy of watching a newborn baby, seeing a child learn to ride a bicycle or just watching buds on the trees open as spring appears is lost when one’s anger is all-consuming. Everyone has been hurt or angry in some way. People also make mistakes or do something we don’t think is right. It’s human to be angry when this happens, but holding on to a grudge year after year is wrong. It’s also harmful to one’s health and to the well-being of others in the human family. Forgiveness is key to getting one’s life back on track. And it is a hallmark of being a Christian. The film was shown last September at the Lyric Theater in Blacksburg which five months earlier had experienced the massive killings on the Virginia Tech campus. It was the worst mass murder in American history. According to Martin Doblmeier, producer of the new film, some had asked him not to show the film there for fear that so much anger among fellow students and parents of those killed might erupt. Instead, the opposite occurred. Parents who had lost their sons and daughters were grateful they had seen the film. Those interested in the film “The Power of Forgiveness” can contact www.journeyfilms.com or Colleen Barranger of the dioces’s Office of Justice and Peace, cbarranger@richmonddiocese.org.
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