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View Full Version : Extreme real life stories of forgiveness.



Eric H
06-24-2008, 11:17 AM
Greetings and peace be with you all

Francis & Berthe Climbié

Victoria Climbié’s life was short and tragic. Born in the Ivory coast, at the age of seven her parents, Francis and Berthe Climbié , trusted her into the care of a relative, Marie-Therese Kouao, who brought her to England to be educated. It was here that she met her death – tortured and killed by the very person who had promised to help her.

Full story here. http://www.theforgivenessproject.com...berthe-climbie

Check out some of the other stories by clicking on a photo at this site.

In the spirit of praying to a loving and forgiving God.

Eric
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ajazz
06-24-2008, 12:24 PM
Assalamualykum


yes in the same spirit..........

Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

"Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped.
Az-Zumar-53,54


However, it is important to correctly understand the concept of hope in the Mercy of Allah, for some who are mistaken in this issue rely completely upon the hope that Allah will forgive their sins without even intending to refrain from evil deeds.

Hope in the Mercy of Allah should be accompanied by regret and remorse of the heart upon the sins committed, sincerity, hastening in repentance and avoiding sins as is clearly manifest from the following verses of the Qur'aan. Allah says: “And whosoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Soorah an-Nisa (4): 110]


“And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil until death faces one of them and he says: 'Now I repent.'” [Soorah an-Nisa (4): 18]


The Forgiveness of Muhammad Shown to Non-Muslims

The mercy of the Prophet even extended to those who brutally killed and then mutilated the body of his uncle Hamzah
After Hind had killed Hamzah she mutilated his body by cutting his chest and tearing his liver and heart into pieces. When she quietly came to the Prophet and accepted Islam, he recognized her but did not say anything. She was so impressed by his magnanimity and stature that she said, “O Messenger of God, no tent was more deserted in my eyes than yours; but today no tent is more lovely in my eyes than yours.”

Safwan bin Umaya, one of the chiefs of Mecca, was also a great enemy of Muhammad(saw) and Islam. He promised a reward to Umair ibn Wahab if he managed to kill Muhammad(saw). When Mecca was conquered,
Umair ibn Wahab came to Muhammad(saw) and said, “O Messenger of God! Safwan ibn Umayya, a chief of his tribe, has run away from fear of what you might do to him and threatens to cast himself into the sea.” The Prophet sent him a guarantee of protection and, when he returned, he requested Muhammad to give him two months to come to a decision.. He was given four months, after which he became a Muslim by his own will.

Habir ibn al-Aswad was another vicious enemy of Muhammad(saw) and Islam. He inflicted a serious injury to Zainab, daughter of the Noble Prophet when she decided to migrate to Medina. She was pregnant when she started her migration, and the polytheists of Mecca tried to stop her from leaving. This particular man, Habbar bin al-Aswad, physically assaulted her and intentionally caused her to fall down from her camel. Her fall had caused her to miscarry her baby, and she herself, was badly hurt. He had committed many other crimes against Muslims as well. He wanted flee to Persia but, when he decided to come to Muhammad instead, the Prophet magnanimously forgave him.

The tribe of Quraish the were archenemies of Islam and, for a period of thirteen years while he was still in Mecca, they would rebuke the Prophet, taunt and mock him, beat him and abuse him, both physically and mentally. They placed the placenta of a camel on his back while he prayed, and they boycotted him and his tribe until the social sanctions became unbearable. They plotted and attempted to kill him on more than one occasion, and when the Prophet escaped to Medina, they rallied the majority of the Arab tribes and waged many wars against him. Yet, when he entered Mecca victorious with an army of 10,000, he did not take revenge on anyone. The Prophet said to the Quraish:
“O people of Quraish! What do you think I will do to you?
Hoping for a good response, they said: “You will do good. You are a noble brother, son of a noble brother.”
The Prophet then said:
“Then I say to you what Joseph said to his brothers: ‘There is no blame upon you.’ Go! For you all free!.



complied from two different web sources




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IbnAbdulHakim
06-24-2008, 01:36 PM
forgiveness should be equated with justice.

Can the tortured girl forgive them? no because shes dead. Therefore they must be baught to justice for that either in this life or the next, whoever else who still lives may forgive and it is up to God to forgive ultimately.


just my thoughts..
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Eric H
06-24-2008, 08:56 PM
Greetings and peace be with you IbnAbdulHakim;

forgiveness should be equated with justice.

Can the tortured girl forgive them? no because shes dead. Therefore they must be baught to justice for that either in this life or the next, whoever else who still lives may forgive and it is up to God to forgive ultimately.


just my thoughts
The full story of Victoria Climbié, ultimately it is in the hands of God.

Victoria Climbié’s life was short and tragic. Born in the Ivory coast, at the age of seven her parents, Francis and Berthe Climbié , trusted her into the care of a relative, Marie-Therese Kouao, who brought her to England to be educated. It was here that she met her death – tortured and killed by the very person who had promised to help her.

Initially, when we first heard about Victoria we could not forgive. We are human beings and no human being is perfect. We were tormented by guilt, anguish and hatred, and could not understand how our daughter’s life could have been destroyed by someone who had promised to take care of her. Victoria was very, very precious to us. We had so many expectations and so much hope for our child. Even so, from the very first day we heard about the death of Victoria, we began praying that one day we would be able to forgive.

If you want to live happily and at ease in this life you have to learn to forgive. It shouldn’t matter if the person is unable to ask for forgiveness or even acknowledge that they’ve done wrong, because forgiveness cannot be based on conditions. So we’re not waiting for Marie-Therese to ask for our forgiveness: whether she asks for it or not we have forgiven her. But while Marie-Therese has shown no remorse, her boyfriend, Carl Manning, did ask for our forgiveness. The sad thing is he hasn’t achieved freedom – not in his body, his mind or his soul. We can’t ignore their culpability. Whatever wrong people do in life there will be a price to pay, but it is not for us to punish. The legal system has its way of dealing with people who are not fit to live among humans.

We have also been able to forgive all those agencies and individuals who were shown through the public inquiry to have failed our daughter. To be locked into a fixed attitude of retribution is to kill a child twice. First, the child is murdered, but if you as the parent then focus only on retribution, you extinguish the very spirit and memory of your child.

Many people in England have asked us why we gave Victoria away. I want to say that we didn’t give her away. In African society children are not just the children of their parents, but the children of their aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, brothers and sisters. The greatest privilege of all is for a relative to offer to educate your child abroad. In Africa we are only able to survive because those who are successful feel a duty to help those who are not.

What comfort is revenge? Our greatest desire is that something positive should come out of this tragedy. That’s why we’re opening a school in the Ivory Coast. It will be a centre of excellence providing education for children from all around the world. The sole reason for Victoria coming to England was to get an education. This school is our way of immortalising the spirit and the name of our child.
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Eric H
06-24-2008, 08:59 PM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

Another powerful story about forgiveness from the same site.

Ghazi Briegeith & Rami Elhanan
Ghazi Briegeith, a Palestinian electrician living in Hebron, and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer from Jerusalem, met through the Parents’ Circle – a group of bereaved families supporting reconciliation and peace. Ghazi’s brother was killed at a checkpoint in 2000. Rami’s 14-year-old daughter was the victim of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997.

Rami
I was on my way to the airport when my wife called and told me Smadar was missing. When something like this happens a cold hand grabs your heart. You rush between friends’ houses and hospitals, then eventually you find yourself in the morgue and you see a sight you’ll never forget for the rest of your life. From that moment you are a new person. Everything is different.

At first I was tormented with anger and grief; I wanted revenge, to get even. But we are people – not animals! I asked myself, “Will killing someone else release my pain?” Of course not. It was clear to my wife and I that the blame rests with the occupation. The suicide bomber was a victim just like my daughter, grown crazy out of anger and shame.

I don’t forgive and I don’t forget, but when this happened to my daughter I had to ask myself whether I’d contributed in any way. The answer was that I had – my people had, for ruling, dominating and oppressing three-and-a-half million Palestinians for 35 years. It is a sin and you pay for sins.

At first I foolishly thought I could just go back to work and resume my life, but the pain was unbearable. Then, a year later, I met Ytzhak Frankenthal, the founder of the Parents’ Circle. He was wearing a ‘kippah’ on his head, and immediately I stereotyped him as an ‘Arab eater’. Even when he told me his personal story, and about the reconciliation work of Parents’ Circle, I was very cynical.

He invited me to a meeting, and reluctantly I went along, just to take a look. I saw buses full of people, among them legends – parents who had lost kids in wars and who still wanted peace. I saw an Arab lady in a long black dress. On her chest was a picture of a six-year-old kid. A singer sang in Hebrew and Arabic, and suddenly I was hit by lightening. I can’t explain it, but from that moment I had a reason to get up in the morning again.

Since then my work with the Parents’ Circle has become the centre of my life, a sacred mission. If we – Ghazi and I – can talk and stand together after paying the highest price possible, then anyone can. There is a high wall between our two nations, a wall of hate and fear. Someone needs to put cracks in the wall in order for it to fall down.

Ghazi
You need a ticket to belong to the Parents’ Circle – the ticket is to have lost a member of your close family. This means Rami and I are brothers of pain.

My own brother was killed in 2000 at the beginning of the Intifada. I’d been with him just minutes before he died. As I was walking home I heard a shot. I found out later he’d been stopped and searched at the checkpoint. When he protested, the soldier shouted, “Shut your mouth, or I’ll shoot you, you son of a *****,” to which my brother replied: “YOU son of a *****!” So the soldier shot him. It was a machine gun in a kid’s hand. Sometimes the power makes them mad.

At first I was completely out of my mind – crazy with grief. There should be no forgiveness for the killers of innocents, and yet even then I saw the soldier as a victim of the occupation just as my brother was, just as I am still. But forgiveness is a very personal thing. Even if I choose to forgive the person who killed my brother, I can’t force my brother’s kids to forgive. But I can show them that far more valuable than a violent response, is opening your heart to reconciliation and peace. I can show them that opening a new page is their only hope of living a better life than ours.

The Palestinians have nothing left to lose, so the Israelis must realise that they are destroying their own nation by causing so much suffering. You don’t need to love each other to build a bridge between the two nations: you need respect. If I can stand with my Jewish brother Rami, respecting him as he respects me, then there is hope.

In the spirit of praying to a loving and forgiving God

Eric
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Eric H
06-25-2008, 04:55 PM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

It is not until you read a dozen stories about forgiveness that you come to understand its power.

http://www.theforgivenessproject.com...martin-snodden

Martin Snodden
I had to seek forgiveness within myself in order to reconcile my past and present.”

As a former paramilitary, Martin Snodden has served a life sentence in the Maze Prison for his activities as a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). 15 years later he was released under license. He now runs the Conflict Trauma Resource Centre (CTRC) in Belfast.

What drove me to take up arms was a desire for peace. Violence was visited upon me in 1969 when I was 15 years old. I lived in a Nationalist area of West Belfast, part of a small Protestant community that came under attack on a daily basis. So-called freedom fighters were denying my family, my neighbours and my friends the right to live in peace. State forces, the police and army weren’t present, so it was a question of self-defence.

Between the ages of 16 and 19 I actively engaged in violence, and before I had turned 20 I was imprisoned for my actions – in particular, for an attack on a premises that was a base for an IRA unit. Two people lost their lives in that attack. One was my colleague and comrade, who died when a bomb prematurely exploded. The other was a woman, an innocent civilian, who was on the premises at the time. My comrades in prison were like me; most had entered prison before the age of 22. All were cannon fodder.

While I was incarcerated I had the opportunity to explore Irish history, and to ask why, despite my Christian upbringing, and despite my strong belief in a moral existence, I had contributed to the violence of our political conflict. I have since come to the conclusion that these beliefs can co-exist: that respect for a moral/spiritual authority can live alongside the need to act to defend one’s community.

My personal inner journey was long and torturous, but I grew to believe that violence was not going to resolve our political conflict, or repair our damaged and divided communities. So while in prison I sat down and spoke with some of my enemies. I developed a very strong friendship with one particular Republican prisoner – a friendship that brought me a lot of hostility from my comrades.

In 1990 I was released under license. The authorities expected prisoners like me to reintegrate back into society, but upon release I found that this was not a society I wanted to reintegrate with. The polarisation had only increased, and my moderate views were now as marginalised as my extremist views had been prior to my incarceration. Nevertheless, I still desired change in our society, and this time I resolved to do it through relationship building and conflict resolution.

This is the path I’ve been walking ever since – sometimes with extreme difficulty. I have to always consider my family and the risks I’m taking. In the last six months I’ve received two death threats - one from each side. The work I engage in antagonises people. It would have been so much easier to have taken a job in industry and just become insignificant in our society.

In my life I’ve been a peace breaker, a peacemaker and peace builder. My past violent actions were very destructive, but now I’m fighting for peace in a far more constructive manner. The risks aren’t really much different but the rewards are much greater.

The Conflict Trauma Resource Centre project, which I’ve been instrumental in developing, looks at the legacy of trauma, pain and suffering. People who use violence are not only likely to kill someone else, but also to kill part of themselves in the course of those violent actions. They lose part of their humanity. 
I deeply regret how my violent actions hurt innocent people. I have had to seek forgiveness within myself and to reconcile my past and my present. That in itself has put me in a better place and empowered me to address the needs of others with regard to the legacy of the violent conflict.
In the spirit of praying for peace on Earth

Eric
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Eric H
06-27-2008, 06:14 AM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

Another remarkable story
Eric Lomax
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. His book, The Railway Man, tells the story.
If you are a victim of torture you never totally recover. You may cope with the physical damage, but the psychological damage stays with you forever.
In 1945 I returned to Edinburgh to a life of uncertainty, following three and half years of fear, interrogation and torture as a POW in the Far East. I had no self-worth, no trust in people, and lived in a world of my own. The privacy of the torture victim is more impregnable than any island fortress. People thought I was coping, but inside I was falling apart. I became impossible to live with; it was as if the sins my captors had sown in me were being harvested in my family. I also had intense hatred for the Japanese, and was always looking for ways and means to do them down. In my mind I often thought of my hateful interrogator. I wanted to drown him, cage him and beat him - as he had done to me.
After my retirement in 1982, I started searching for information about what had happened in Siam. The need to know is powerful. In the course of my search I learnt that Nagase Takashi - my interrogator and torturer - had offered to help others with information. I learnt that he was still alive, active in charitable works, and that he had built a Buddhist temple. I was skeptical. I couldn’t believe in the notion of Japanese repentance. I strongly suspected that if I were to meet him I’d put my hands round his neck and do him in.
My turning point came in 1987 when I came across The Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture. For the first time I was able to unload the hate that had become my prison. Seeing the change in me, my wife wrote to Nagase. The letter he wrote back was full of compassion, and I think at that moment I lost whatever hard armour I had wrapped around me and began to think the unthinkable.

The meeting took place in 1998 in Kanburi, Thailand. When we met Nagase greeted me with a formal bow. I took his hand and said in Japanese, “Good Morning Mr Nagase, how are you?” He was trembling and crying, and he said over and over again: “I am so sorry, so very sorry.” I had come with no sympathy for this man, and yet Nagase, through his complete humility, turned this around. In the days that followed we spent a lot of time together, talking and laughing. It transpired that we had much in common. We promised to keep in touch and have remained friends ever since.
After our meeting I felt I’d come to some kind of peace and resolution. Forgiveness is possible when someone is ready to accept forgiveness. Some time the hating has to stop. 

http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/eric-lomax
In the spirit of praying for justice, peace, and reconciliation for this world.

Eric
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glo
06-27-2008, 06:15 AM
Some of those stories are amazing, Eric!

I guess only tragic events can tell whether any of us have such grace and forgiveness in us!
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Eric H
06-28-2008, 02:54 PM
Greetings and peace be with you glo,
format_quote Originally Posted by glo
Some of those stories are amazing, Eric!

I guess only tragic events can tell whether any of us have such grace and forgiveness in us!
The stories I have posted so far have been about remarkable individuals coming to terms with injustice in their own lives.

I was able to watch a part of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations last night; he is surely a remarkable man. After suffering 27 years in prison before gaining power, he searched for ways to forgive and strived towards reconciliation. The reconciliation he strived for was not just for him; but for a whole nation that had suffered injustice.

In the spirit of praying for justice, peace and reconciliation.

Eric
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Eric H
06-30-2008, 06:42 AM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

Nelson Mandela served twenty seven years in prison, he was released at the age of seventy one. He had all the reasons to be a very angry man, but his first words to the public were, I greet you in the name of peace.

He later goes on to say that that he has an ideal of a free and democratic society for all people, an ideal he hopes to live for. And an ideal he is prepared to die for.

Check out this short news clip about his release from prison, truly a remarkable man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2d3ENhn8Kg

In the spirit of praying for peace on Earth

Eric
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Eric H
07-01-2008, 06:24 AM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

Another remarkable story; not only about forgeveness but the need to try and do something for other people.

Tom Mauser

On April 20th 1999, Columbine High School in Colorado came under attack from two of its own when two student gunmen killed 13 and wounded 23, before turning their guns on themselves. Tom Mauser’s 15-year-old son, Daniel, was among the dead. Tom is now an active campaigner in the gun control movement.
As soon as I heard about the shootings, I rushed to the elementary school where they were bringing evacuated kids. I spotted Daniel’s best friend, saw the relief on his dad’s face and thought, “This has to be me, too.” But as the day wore on I saw no sign of Daniel. At one point the parents whose children had not turned up were called into a room where crisis counselors were waiting. I couldn’t handle it and left. We went to bed that night fearing Daniel was dead.
People blamed the shootings on bullying at the school, but I have a problem with that idea. Being bullied is no reason to kill others. We make it too easy for angry kids to take revenge. Kids who are weak now think they can fight back with guns.
I don’t think the parents of Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold caused their children to become killers, but I do think they were poor parents. It has always bothered me that they have never leveled with those of us who lost our children that day. We received a sympathy card from the Klebold family that read like an attorney had written it. The Harris family sent cards but they were lost by the sheriff’s office, and never replaced.
I have thought about reaching out to the killers’ parents, as a plea to them to tell other parents how to spot the warning signs of violence. But would they ever listen? We live in a society of blame, denying responsibility rather than laying out our dirty laundry.
Shortly after Columbine, my wife, Linda, and I went to a meeting for parents of murdered children. The room was filled with anger and emotional gridlock. Perhaps it was easier for me because my son’s killers were dead, but it made me realize that I had to pull something positive out of this tragedy. If I let it defeat me the killers would have won.
Daniel was a very thoughtful boy who would never have passed judgment on another kid and was interested in current events. At our dinner table one night, a few weeks before Columbine, he raised the issue of loopholes in the Brady Bill. When he was killed with a gun bought through one of those very loopholes, the irony really hit home. The Brady Bill requires federally licensed gun dealers to run checks on customers to prevent firearms from falling into the hands of kids or criminals. However, the many ‘private’, unlicensed sellers who operate at gun shows don’t have to do this. It’s cash and carry, no questions asked. That’s how the Columbine guns were bought.
Ten days after the shooting, the National Rifle Association (NRA) held its national convention in Denver. The NRA is one of America’s most powerful lobbies and has opposed the Brady Bill and other gun laws. When I heard there was a rally to protest the NRA convention, I asked if I could speak at it. I took along a banner that said, “My son died at Columbine, he’d expect me to be here today.”
In 2000 I took a year’s absence from work to lobby the State Legislature to pass reasonable gun laws. When the Legislature failed to close the gun show loophole, we decided that voters should decide. We needed 62,000 petition signatures, but collected over 110,000. The issue was won by a vote of 70% to 30% and in Colorado the loophole was closed. I am not a natural leader, but speaking out helps me because it carries on Daniel’s life.
In the first few weeks after the shooting, Linda and I dealt with our grief by taking walks in a park next to Columbine High, and it was there that Linda introduced the idea of adopting a Chinese baby. We did so, as a way of honoring Daniel. Creating a website about Daniel’s was also an important part of our journey. Our goal is to honor Daniel with acts of hope, and not mar our memory of him with anger or hatred or despair.
Related Organisation:
Daniel Mauser Memorial Site

http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/tom-mauser
In the spirit of praying for an inner peace that surpasses all understanding.

Eric
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Eric H
07-16-2008, 11:41 PM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

Another amazing story

Gill Hicks
On July 7th, 2005, 26 people died and many were severely injured and maimed on London Underground's Piccadilly line tube train between Kings Cross and Russell Square stations.
A suicide bomber was responsible. Australian born Gill Hicks miraculously survived but lost both her legs due to the explosion.

I wish the world would Stop – just stop and give us all the time to see what is happening. Why are we killing each other – everyday? It may sound naïve, simple, maybe too simple to take seriously – but – I don't understand why we are 'accepting' and 'tolerating' war and destruction and famine and poverty and oppression. When will the final bomb explode? When will enough be enough?

The cycle has to stop – I can not hate the person who has done this to me; the cycle must end with me. I don’t see it as my place to forgive the act, yet I am compelled to understand – to offer an open heart, to try to hear and ask Why?

As I lay waiting, trapped in what resembled a train carriage - but was now a blackened, smoke filled indescribable 'room' of destruction and devastation - I was able to think. This period of time, some 40 minutes, was to prove to be the most insightful and blessed gift that I am yet to receive, apart from the ultimate gift of a second chance at life. As the blood poured from my body (despite the scarf I had tied on each leg as a tourniquet to stem the flow) I felt incredibly weak, fighting to hold on, to survive. There were two voices holding a very powerful, conflicting conversation in my head – one voice willing me to hold on, to remember those who love me and need me here, the other calling me softly to let go, to drift away into a peaceful deep and permanent sleep. Both sides were stating their case – asking me to choose between life and death. I thought about all the things that mattered to me –my then partner and now husband Joe, my brother Graham, my family, my dear friends – I wanted to spare them this pain. They gave me the strength to choose life. I made a decision and the conversation ended. I wasn't going to die in the carriage, not there on that day; I had to wait for a light.

Help did come and each person who 'saved' me did so not knowing who I was. It didn’t matter if I was rich or poor, black or white, female or male, muslim or jew, religious or not – what mattered to each of them – the police, the ambulance, the paramedics, the surgeons, the nurses –was that I was a life that hung in the balance, a life they were so desperate to save. I arrived at the hospital as 'One Unknown' – an estimated female.

When I awoke I was euphoric to be alive and to have survived. I feel like a very blessed person – filled with emotions of love and compassion and joy. I am able to appreciate life – but a different life than I had before, one that is rich and fulfilled and not consumed by anger and hatred.

I am committed to building Peace – to endeavour to eradicate ignorance in the world and to encourage mutual understanding. I don't want to accept terrorism, we all deserve to live in a world that is not plagued by war and famine and poverty and oppression. We can change that – each and every one of us – each 'one unknown'.

Related Organisation:
M.A.D. For Peace

http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/gill-hicks
In the spirit of praying for peace and reconciliation,

Eric
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Eric H
03-26-2009, 10:42 AM
Greetings and peace be with you all,

“Forgiveness is a journey. Today you can forgive and tomorrow you can feel the pain all over again”

Anne Gallagher
Anne Gallagher is a former nurse from the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) in Belfast. She tended to victims of bombs and bullets on both sides of the sectarian divide, as well as many policemen and soldiers. Having a father and three brothers interned in the early days of The Troubles, she has experienced the pain of having close relatives imprisoned and killed. Her brother Dominic, a former IRA member, became leader of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and was, at the time, the most wanted man in Ireland. After his release from prison he was shot dead by unknown gunmen.

Anne founded Seeds of Hope, an organisation that facilitates story telling, based on The Troubles, through music, art, drama, writing and sport. This has lead to similar work being carried out in prisons, schools and communities in Sweden, Belgium and the USA.

Forgiveness isn’t something that’s talked about with reconciliation, but it’s needed to bring closure to the pain and suffering experienced in Northern Ireland. You can’t contemplate hope unless you address despair. To heal the wounds of Northern Ireland I believe you have to see humanity in the face of the enemy. But forgiveness is a journey. Today you can forgive and tomorrow you can feel pain all over again. I’m not a religious person, but for me forgiveness is about grace. To be able to forgive someone who has hurt you is a moment of grace. My mother is my driving force. She has such a respect for every single soul – even for the policemen and soldiers who raided our house and caused her so much pain.

I grew up in Country Derry in a very happy family, one of four sisters and seven brothers. I’d just started nursing when my father and three of my brothers were interned without trial. It was this that got my other brothers involved in The Troubles. In the hospital Intensive Care Unit, I would nurse victims from all sides. Seeing them lying there, naked and attached to life support machines, I didn’t see a uniform, I just saw their hearts, their pain. The conflict was everywhere: out on the streets, in people’s houses, at the end of your bed during night raids, when you’d wake up to find uniformed men in your room. My brother Dominic was murdered in front of his young son, who had previously, with his other young brother, seen his mother shot as she bathed them. I absolutely loved my brothers. I didn’t judge them at all.

With the Seeds of Hope project, we encourage people not to judge others. We listen to people’s stories, but we don’t judge them. There’s healing in that. The idea is that when you hear my story and I hear your story, it becomes our story, and seeds of hope are sown.

http://www.theforgivenessproject.com...anne-gallagher
In the spirit of praying for peace and reconciliation

Eric
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Zahida
03-26-2009, 11:35 AM
:sl: Dear Eric, Reading your threads make me so sad................ How can people be like that?? It is beyond my understanding.................imsad:w:
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