Today, I am thankful for those who remind us that unselfish love is manifest best through the act of forgiveness.
If we were to follow Don Henley’s advice and ‘get down to the heart of the matter’, we’d all acknowledge that the act of forgiveness is not only a sign of selflessness, but the truest form of intentional love and mutual understanding. As humans, our egos are easily bruised when we find ourselves maligned by others. In a moment of resentment, negative emotions infiltrate our mind, and our animal instinct of ‘flight-or-flight’ leads to the release of hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, that swiftly drive us towards retribution and even retaliation. However, in the moment of feeling harmed or betrayed, an individual truly needs resolve, patience, and fortitude to shrug off disgust and release oneself from their own anger and the vengeful desire to seek retaliation.
Numerous clinical studies have shown that the act of forgiveness may be beneficial to one’s own health, resulting in both mental advantages (including fewer depressive symptoms and improved sense of hope and happiness) and even physical benefits (a lowering of blood pressure and a reduced risk for cardiac problems). Of course, the act of offering forgiveness to another who has wronged you is a task easier said than done. Recalling historic examples of forgiveness of significant wrongdoings might assist us in our pursuit of this virtue.
On this day (May 13), in 1981, Pope John Paul II was crossing St. Peter’s Square when an escaped prisoner, Mehmet Ali Aqca, fired shots at the pontiff. As a troubled youth, Agca had joined a gang and became a petty criminal in his native country of Turkey. Under the order of an extreme terrorist group, he murdered the editor of a Turkish newspaper in 1979 and was sentenced to life in prison. The next year, he escaped his incarceration and eventually made his way to Rome. On that fateful day thirty-nine years ago, he stepped in front of the Pope, who was riding in his open-air jeep, and fired his pistol on 4 separate occasions, critically injuring the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in the hand, finger, and abdomen. After he was quickly apprehended by local citizens and the Pope’s entourage, he was imprisoned. After being released from critical care, the Pope publicly forgave Agca from his Roman hospital bed in his first public statement, asking people “to pray for my brother (Agca), whom I have sincerely forgiven.” But, he did not stop there, several years later, the Pope visited and prayed with Agca in his prison cell. Over the years, John Paul II met with Agca’s mother and his brother, staying in close touch with the immediate family. After nearly two decades in prison, the pontiff asked for Agca’s pardon. The Roman government acquiesced and Agca was released, at which point he was sent back to Turkey to serve out the time on the prior felony he had committed. He was finally released from jail in 2010, five years after the pontiff had died from influenza. Several years later, Agca, now a converted Christian, would revisit Rome where he would lay two dozen white roses at the Basilica tomb of the man who had forgiven him.
We always remember the first part of the famous quote by the English poet, Alexander Pope: “To err is human” but we often neglect to finish the phrase: “To forgive, divine.” In that same poem, An Essay on Criticism, Pope goes on to say that a “little learning is a dangerous thing.” As true as this reflection about human knowledge might be, I think we can learn a little lesson from the actual Pope himself (John Paul II, not Alexander Pope). Indeed, forgiveness is a selfless act of humanitarianism that ultimately brings forth inner peace.
So,the next time Don Henley’s song shows up on your Apple Music playlist, remember that the heart of the matter is about forgiveness.
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