It takes a strong person to completely let go of something painful and forgive a person who has done them wrong. For example, the scenes in the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo where Bishop Myriel forgives Valjean and where Javert is unable to accept Valjean’s forgiveness are similar because both characters forgave their wrongdoers with mercy. They forgave because they let go of the need for vengeance and in turn welcomed compassion. However, the response of the wrongdoers was different. Valjean responded differently to forgiveness because he was taken aback by the way the Bishop showed him mercy even though he was not worthy of receiving benevolence. By the bishop buying Valjean’s soul for him, he helped Valjean understand that vengeance was not the answer, God is the answer. As a result, the consequences of Valjean’s response was that he took up the spirit of Bishop Myriel’s generosity and made it the cornerstone of his new life which eventually allowed him to give pardon to his long-standing enemy Javert. On the other hand, when Valjean showed Javert forgiveness and clemency, his response was different. Javert committed suicide because he struggled accepting that after he did Valjean wrong Valjean still …show more content…
I wanted to let go of the dark cloud that constantly reminded me that I was never good enough to be a part of them. Instead of looking at them as bullies, I looked at them with pity and compassion because I realized they did not understand the effect of their words. This experience has shaped the way I approach forgiving others after they had wronged me by accepting that there are going to be people in this world that are not going to like me. Forgiving others is for my benefit and not theirs. I am releasing myself from hanging on to anger and hate. The effect of their bullying has left me with distrust in others and a low
Simon Wiesenthal’s book The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness spoke to me about the question of forgiveness and repentance. Simon Wiesenthal was a Holocaust prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He experienced many brutal and uneasy experiences that no human being should experience in their lifetime and bear to live with it. Death, suffering, and despair were common to Simon Wiesenthal that he questioned his own religious faith because he asks why would his God allow the Holocaust happen to his people to be slaughter and not do anything to save them. During Simon Wiesenthal time as a Jewish Holocaust, Simon was invited to a military hospital where a dying Nazi SS officer wanted to have a conversation. The Nazi SS officer told Simon his story of his life and confesses to Simon of his horrific war crimes. Ultimately, the SS officer wanted forgiveness for what he done to Simon’s Jewish people. Simon Wiesenthal could not respond to his request, because he did not know what to do with a war criminal that participate in mass genocide to Simon’s people. Simon Wiesenthal lives throughout his life on asking the same crucial question, “What would I have done?” (Wiesenthal 98). If the readers would be on the exact situation as Simon was
The Crucible – Forgiveness & nbsp; The Healing Power Of Forgiveness - The Gift of Reconciliation. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." --- Mahatma Gandhi & nbsp; Forgiveness is a process of inner healing. For most of the people in The Crucible, they did not need to necessarily forgive others but forgive themselves.
Life as we all know is full of disappointment and filled with disparity. Most of us are able to go through these and learn from and forgive ourselves. Yet, this isn’t always the case. People are faced with traumatic experiences that often take a long time to get over, if they ever do get over it. These experiences brew in our brain popping up at the most random points often bringing our spirits down. Although these experiences may scar us and fill us with regret and guilt, we can’t continue to live in the past and let these regrets haunt us. Self forgiveness is a key to healing and to moving on in life, no matter how hard it is.
Forgiving someone is a way to release us from the pain they have brought us. Justice can just be
The essay "Forgiveness," written by June Callwood, explores the concept of forgiving and how it influences people's lives for the better. Her work describes many components of forgiveness, such as how difficult it can be to come to terms with, why it is such a crucial part of humanity, and how it affects all people. Her essay aims to prove that forgiveness is the key to living peacefully and explains specific examples of people who have encountered extremely difficult situations in their lives- all of whom found it within themselves to forgive. To clearly portray this message in her writing, Callwood uses several strategies. She includes fear inducing statistics, makes many references to famous events and leaders, and uses a serious convincing tone, all of which are very effective.
In a clinical setting, patients sometimes suffer from a multitude of illnesses and bad experiences that lead them to look for external help. Many experiences that patients go through are very difficult to socially, personally and lots of times mentally as well. Therefore, Psychologists must look at the whole of the issue that is causing individuals stress. The first thing you will hear from psychologists regarding forgiveness is the matter of whether it would even be safe for the patient to make contact and forgive the wrong-doer. Much of therapy is concerned with making the patient feel better before anyone else. This means that forgiveness of a person that may still hurt them could be out of question. Although it may be hard to forgive someone for the wrongs they have done to you, it may be extremely worth-while from the psychologist perspective. According to Frise and McMinn, patients may benefit psychologically from forgiving the person that has wronged them because they can “release negative painful feelings and thoughts and move forward without the hindrance of unforgiveness” (2010). As you can see, Psychologists walk more of a balance between the goodness of forgiveness and the harm that it can do to those that are not ready for
In the book “The Scarlet Letter” we Hester asks us to decide whether Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are forgiven. Hawthorne view shows us that for one to feel forgiven thatforgiven you must forgive yourself. Dimmesdale was never able to forgiven himself so it followed him to the grave. Hester, however forgave herself. This resulted in her being seen as able as time went by.
The rattling story of Joseph told of a man who must struggle with the most horrid betrayal from his family in which he learned to forgive them and even helped them flourish in later life. Justified by a need to make them properly atone for their sins, Joseph put his brothers through hell and back. In the end, Joseph ended up feeling happier for reconnecting with his family and saving them from the ominous hands of the famine that plagued Canaan. Although it may seem that the Bible suggests exonerating those who have deeply wronged one shows weakness and too much leniency, forgiveness allows one to become a stronger person and allow for the restoration of bonds amongst once-close companions.
It is your soul that I am buying for you… and I give it to God!”(33). This act and the power of forgiveness is the what catalyzed and drove Jean Valjean’s transformation from cruel and bitter to benevolent, virtuous, and selfless; moreover, impacting the way he acted towards the poor and needy, and changing his mindset for the rest of his life. For Javert, forgiveness shatters his perception of the world viewable only as black and white and where justice is when people get what they deserve in the name of the law, an idea of rigid and severe retribution. Hugo through his many examples of the power of forgiveness is poignantly portraying how mercy can transform an individual regardless of their societal ranking. Jean Valjean would have been wrong in not forgiving Javert, for the actions of the Bishop show, that an individual should show forgiveness to others no matter the actions of their past, for the true significance of forgiveness is to spark transformation in
I made it my obligation to undo my wrong and be more of a leader and was able to have others follow by example. By being more friendly and thoughtful the individual was able to feel some relief and make new friends while attending school. By me being in this situation at a young age help me become fully aware of what I wanted to do in life which is helping others because of me helping and supporting this individual it made me feel positive about my change in uplifting another human being. The impact it has had on my view of bullying and torment to others now that I am older and more, wiser is when I’m in a situation where I’m thinking cruelty or someone is being cruel in my presence. I always think back to fifth grade and put myself in that persons position I also believe that this life experience will go a long way in helping others to the best of my ability with their problems or issues they are dealing with by looking beyond myself and helping my future patient I’m able to look beyond myself I feel I can be more useful and valuable to my community and peers I can teach them my life experience and what I learned so they won’t have to make the same mistakes that I have , I want my experience that I faced to change
What I could struggle to learn throughout my teenage years was the concept to forgive and forget literally, don’t get me wrong back then I watched a lot movies with the teaching to forgive, heard it all from going to church and all other different sources but still I couldn’t just come to my mind to forgive the people that actually hurt me when I was going through possibly the worst time in my life and forget all they had put me through. I grew up in the ghetto part of my country Nigeria where a whole punch of craziness goes on daily without nothing been done in the betterment of that status. I myself fell into that kind of lifestyle where it
The substance of forgiveness is known to be an important thing and concept in the teaching of Jesus. In the Bible, Jesus has made it clear that unforgiveness is known to be a serious sin nurtured in the heart. As per Jesus Christ, it is said that the person needs to be forgiven even if a serious problem is caused due to him. If not, even we would not be forgiven from God. As per Jesus, if you forgive the sin done by the people, your heavenly will also forgive you if you have committed any sin. We would always want the heavenly father to forgive us for whatever wrong things or the mistakes that we do. In fact, we always think that it is the duty of God to forgive us. However, we never consider that the degree of offence we have done. We always think that he is the God and it is his prime duty to forgive us no matter what we do. But if somebody does the same thing to us, we always feel that it is not important to forgive them we think that we should not let them go just by forgiving them. Hence, the most important thing that needs to be considered here by us is that we should learn to forgive people (...
Forgiveness is the act of releasing an offender of any wrong or hurt they may have caused you whether they deserve it or not. It is a decision to let go of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group of people. When we choose to forgive, we’re wiping the slate clean, cancelling a debt, or as I love to say, “Letting it go.” In the Bible, the Greek word for forgiveness literally means to “let it go.” This concept, “forgiveness,” is easier said than done. Majority of people find it very difficult to let go of offenses and hurts caused by others. I really do believe that most people desire to let it go, but we lack the knowledge of how to do it. As believers, we are instructed by God maintain an attitude of forgiveness.
Acknowledging a wound that needs healing is important in this process. If you have truly forgiven, your scarred emotions get healed. Most times when you forgive your offenders, you often find that your wounds are still bleeding. Meanwhile, Forgiven someone does not mean that you have forgotten or that what they did was acceptable. What it does is that it frees us from anger that reacts like poison in our system. However, even if your brains recall the painful memory of past experience, you don’t feel any more of the sting of the pain and hurt of that experience. If you are able to look back at those painful memories and you don’t feel the pain anymore, then you know that you have truly forgiven, healed and made whole. You need time to work through your pain and loss. However, some offenses you encounter lead to a sense of loss of trust, security, friendship, relationship and a whole lots more. You may also lose your direction and forget the purpose and meaning of life when inflicted with pain through an offense. Sometimes you’re most horrible and painful experiences can teach your life valuable lessons, making you more insightful and stronger individual through them. Forgiveness is all about finding what was lost and restoring the wholeness that one once
A strong Christian lesson on the true nature of forgiveness can be found in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount: