Eric Seaman: True Forgiveness Required

Eric Seaman: Unless something like this has happened to any of us, our comments and feelings are speculation of how we would “feel” should this happen to our family. You have to live the situation to truly react and that reaction will be a result of who we are and how we got to who we are at a moment of tragedy. I’d like to think I could forgive but, I love my children so much it borderlines on being unhealthy. This isn’t preaching but, I’m a Catholic and everything I read, hear, and expect calls for forgiveness. Severe forgiveness, not just saying that you forgive someone who wronged you by slight or by word because that’s easy. The forgiveness that faith speaks of is the big time stuff like murder, pain, and of course a situation like this.

DFO: The greatest single act of forgiveness that I’ve ever experienced/witnessed involved my father’s death. He was the foreman of a trucking company who, ironically, was killed by an inattentive trucker who, possibly blinded by the sun, turned in front of him near a freeway interchange. My mother never said an evil word about the trucker. From the moment she heard the news, she felt sorry for the poor trucker who’d have to live with his moment of inattentiveness the rest of his life. As a result, I believe, she was able to heal quicker than otherwise and continue on. I never heard one of my siblings express ill will toward the poor trucker either. Hate, bitterness, regret, etc., strangle life. Having said all that, there are times when I’ve struggled with hate and thoughts of revenge in other situations. It’s a waste of energy.