The Color of Remembering

“Forgiveness is the fragrance

that the violet sheds

on the heel that has crushed it.” 

(Mark Twain)

It is the season of remembering – remembering those who fought in the wars of the last 100 years; remembering the foolishness of humanity that lead to the death of millions; remembering freedom and its cost - lives ended, lives broken, lives enduring.

Perhaps mostly though, it is about remembering love. In her book, Love Without End, Glenda Green states that we cannot solve a problem at the level at which it was created. The ills of humanity that precipitated the horrific atrocities of the 20th century and beyond cannot be healed by further violence. If we continue to adopt an “eye for an eye” policy of international relations we will all end up blind and angry.

Christ made it very clear that forgiveness was the key to healing the brokenness of our world as he mentored us in radical forgiveness. Still, we struggle to enact this grace on personal, community and national levels. Consequently, radical Muslims kill Christians and then radical Christians kill Muslims. Israel bombs the West Bank and the West Bank bombs back. There is absolutely no end to this, no resolution if we respond to violence with violence. The problem is, when we have been hurt, violated, wronged in some fashion, we are so utterly convinced that it is our right to seek retribution. In so doing we put aside our right to be healers in our world.

“It is forbidden to kill;

therefore all murderers are punished,

unless they kill in large numbers

and to the sound of trumpets.” 

(Voltaire)

Forgiveness though – now there is a power to be reckoned with. Seriously, what would happen in our world if nations would simply forgive? And let’s not stop there – what if communities were to forgive? What if families were to forgive?

Most of us have a family member who died in one of the last century’s wars – what if we were to forgive those responsible for such deaths? Remembrance Day may be about “we will never let that happen again; we will fight with all our might for freedom.” Is it not also about remembering who Love made us to be – that, yes, we will fight when all other avenues are closed to us, but we will forgive twice as hard as we fight?

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger

and clamor and slander be put away from you,

along with all malice.

Be kind to one another,

tenderhearted, forgiving one another"

(Ephesians 4:31-32)

I am deeply grateful for those men and women who have fought for the freedom of our world. One of the ways I can honor their sacrifice is to let the violence that ended their lives provoke in me a deeper compassion and grace so that violence itself might one day be brought to an end. 

"Lest we forget" is a call to bring to mind that true freedom has never been found in the power of violence, but rather unfolds in the cascading brilliance of hands reaching across the chasm to join as one people. Our challenge is not to remember the war, it is to remember that we are a people of peace, reconciliation, of radical forgiveness.

Thank you to the men and women of our military, past and present; may the missions of our active soldiers be ones of rescue and peace.

I leave the last word to author Thomas Stephen Szasz:

“The stupid neither forgive nor forget;

the naive forgive and forget;

the wise forgive but do not forget.” 

(Thomas Stephen Szasz)

The color of remembering...

hindsight informing foresight.

missing the door

one walks

into a wall

over

and

over

and

over

until one learns

what doors

are

for

Love

is the

door

we

hold the

key

Remember

breathe

play

To Ponder Further:

- From the Bible: "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4.32)

- From Islam: "The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget." ([Shiite]. Nahjul Balagha, Saying 201)

- From Confucianism: "The superior man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes." (I Ching 40: Release)