Responding with Forgiveness

One of the most difficult and toughest things humans are ever called upon to do is to respond to evil with kindness. Everyone loves to hear stories about others who have responded to hatred with love, and were somehow able to forgive the unforgivable. These stories institute pleasure and bliss into people and overall restore their faith that there is still good in the word. Whereas these “feel good” stories are uplifting to listen to, when this same idea is demanded on a personal level the result is usually anger, depression, or hatred. People find it hard to forgive personally even after they know of the many studies that show forgiveness will lead to good health and a more positive life. Although moving toward forgiveness may not be easy, it is the best thing someone could do for him or her self because they deserve to be free of the evil they were victimized with. The poem “Rooms” by Paula Camacho and the poem “Ghazal: Forgive and Forget” by Ellen Pickus both question if it is possible to forgive on either a general or personal level and maybe not achieving but moving toward forgiveness.

The poem “Rooms by Paula Camacho is about questioning if a group of people are able to forgive. The speaker of the poem is inferred to be the mother of an adolescent boy. She describes an article in the New York times called “The Shrine Down the Hall” that shows the pictures of nine soldier’s rooms back home. She compares their rooms to her own son’s room and only finds one that comes close to resembling it. She wonders if the mothers of these boys are able to walk into these empty rooms and forgive the war that killed her son.

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In the poem the speaker uses many literary anomalies to question forgiveness through the poem. She says t...

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... on some positive things about her relationship. It is very difficult to forgive someone who is so close to you and whose role is to be there for you. The poem shows the difficulty of forgiveness on a personal level.

“Rooms” and “Ghazal: Forgive and Forget” are both powerful poems about forgiveness. Although forgiveness is not fully accomplished in both poems, each questions the possibility of forgiving and move towards it. They show the difficulty of forgiving on both a general and personal levels and how each is challenging in it’s own way.

Works Cited

Camacho, Paula. “Rooms.” Teller 22-23. Gayl Teller eds. Toward Forgiveness: An Anthology of Poems. Daytona Beach: Writers Ink Press, 2011. Print.

Pickus, Ellen. “Ghazal: Forgive and Forget.” Teller 93. Gayl Teller eds. Toward Forgiveness: An Anthology of Poems. Daytona Beach: Writers Ink Press, 2011. Print.