The Power of Forgiveness

The film is great as an overview. It is not nor should it be an in-depth or comprehensive study of forgiveness. Its sets the stage for further discussion and I plan to use it as such. This should just be the beginning of worthwhile discussions on what forgiveness is, how do we accomplish the act and how can it be applied to individuals and communities.

very disappointed in content....expected it to be about the Amish, but was about a lot of different tragedies and tended to ramble and not go into any depth with any of the subjects...very impersonal for what I was expecting....wouldn't recommend

It is very unfortunate that this worthy project has been marred by Elie Wiesel, a follower of the revenge-filled Talmud who has never acknowledged his relationship with the Irgun terrorists who massacred the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin or decried the slaughter in Deir Yassin in any way. Of the Germans, Wiesel wrote the terrible words (which he has never recanted): "Every Jew, somewhere in his being, should set apart a zone of hate - healthy, virile hate - for what the German personifies and for what persists in the German." (Wiesel, "Legends of Our Time" [1968]). How on earth the producers of this DVD were so ignorant of Wiesel's record as to hoax their own forgiveness project with his presence is beyond fathoming.

What does it mean to forgive someone? How do you go about forgiving? Does it mean that we forgo justice? Is forgiving simply a spiritual experience between an individual and God or does it play out on many different levels? These and other questions are addressed in this look at forgiveness by filmmaker Martin Doblmeier (Bonhoeffer). It looks at real life examples of forgiveness such as the Amish in the wake of the killing of five Amish schoolgirls that ripped their community. It shows the speech Elie Weisel made to the German Bundestadt challenging them to ask forgiveness of the Jewish people and then two months later, the speech made to the Israeli Knesset by the President of Germany asking forgiveness on behalf of Germany. It looks at forgiveness on many different levels including the physical level and how forgiveness (or lack of it) affects us physically and shows examples of forgiveness being taught in elementary schools as well as being offered in colleges. It shows three women who lost loved ones in 9/11 who travel to Lebanon to experience the Garden of Forgiveness established by the Lebanese and wonder why there is so much opposition to establishing a Garden of Forgiveness on the WTC site. While many might want to limit forgiveness to a theological discussion (and it certainly is a major if not THE major theological doctrine), this film shows the power of forgiveness beyond just the theological implications and how our world could be different if forgiveness were taken seriously and practiced by everyone. At the very least, this should be a wonderful conversation starter for those serious about studying forgiveness. Think of the political ramifications if candidates running for office would stand up and ask forgiveness of their opponents when they say something in error or intentionally malign them or if corporate leaders would ask forgiveness of shareholders for the mistakes they made in the name of corporate profits and greed. Perhaps, like most things, it works best if it starts from the individual and community level and works upward. That means it starts with you and me. [...]

"The Power of Forgiveness"

Healing

Amos Lassen

Forgiving is painful but many times it is necessary in order for one to move on. Forgiving may be simple or extremely difficult and I am sure many of you wondered, as did I, how the Amish community could forgive the murder of its children. "The Power of Forgiveness" is a bold new documentary that shows how forgiveness can bring about both personal and spiritual transformation.
Elie Wiesel (Holocaust survivor), Marianne Williamson (Spiritual Activist), Thich Nhat Hanh (Buddhist teacher and peace activist) and Thomas More (author of "Care of the Soul") look at the power of forgiveness and show how forgiving can be transformative. They look at various conditions ranging from the simplest of spats to major catastrophes like 9/11 and guide us on how to forgive. There are many manifestations of forgiveness and each form has different approaches to finding a way to achieve peace with the issues.
What I learned is that forgiving is not as difficult as it may seem.
The movie hit me very personally as I am presently involved in a spat with one of my teaching colleagues at the university. We were once like sister and brother until she did something that really hurt me and I have been harboring that hurt for over two weeks now and each day I find it harder to move on. Each day that passes also makes it that much harder to forgive-especially because I know that I did nothing wrong.
On of the highlights of the film is contained in the extras. Desmond Tutu spoke at the Washington National Cathedral about his feelings on forgiving. Marianne Williamson also makes a powerful statement when she tells us that we live in a time when there is a great deal of evil around us and that we, of course, must hold those who deal in evil responsible for their actions. But we "nevertheless [must] stand for the possibility of human redemption that turns even the hardest hearts". By forgiving we let go of "the pain in the memory". We do not cast off the memory but it stops controlling us.