Begining the conversation

Our first week of discussion centering on the topic of forgiveness and the story presented in “The Sunflower” was very interesting. We found that we had barely scratched the surface of meaningful conversation. The class grappled with a definition of forgiveness and what the act would look like. Many questions were posed; Is it necessary to forgive? Do we have a right to forgive an individual for the deeds against others? How do we forgive acts of murder and other crimes against persons?

Some members of the class found reading the story that Wiesenthal shares about an experience he had while in a Nazi prison camp to be especially difficult to read. Several others struggled with the realization that for them the story was less personal, but more historical. As you might guess that was a topic that was rather unexpected in our discussion. We do have several different generations that participate in our Sunday school class and often we do have very different perceptions on topics. For the people who lived through World War II the reality was still present for them and for those of us who are of the post-war generation we have grown up with the stories and the visual images of what took place in the camps.

Yet for some of us the realization that the acts of violence against the Jews, still take place in many regions of the world today against many different people. Darfur, Bosnia, Congo, and yes the Middle East countries of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Palestine and Israel all have wars, violence against women and children; genocide still happens, but we tend to find words that soften the reality of the atrocities. How can we forgive those who commit such brutal acts against other human beings? Do we have a right to forgive them if they ask for our forgiveness? We have many questions and very few answers.

These are just some of the topics we are discussing in our morning together. Yes, religion does play a role in this discussion, but it is not simply an act that is based in any one religion. We have a number of weeks of conversation a head of us. I know I have been challenged to search myself as I read the book. It is a large and important subject to tackle. I’ll let you know some of the thoughts that others have on the subject as we proceed.