Forgiveness News
Victim’s Widow Forgives, Tries to Stop Killer’s Execution
Philadelphia, The Inquirer – With less than a month before condemned murderer Terrance Williams is scheduled to die by lethal injection, a broad-based group of supporters – including the widow of the man Williams killed in 1984 – urged that his life be spared for a crime committed three months after he turned 18, the minimum age for someone to be sentenced to death in the United States.
The advocacy group includes lawyers and former judges, child advocates, and religious figures but Williams’ strongest asset may be an extraordinary affidavit by his victim’s widow. Mamie Norwood, 75, describes a personal transformation from anger and resentment to forgiveness.
At first, Norwood wrote, her husband’s murder was “unbearable for me. [But] several years ago, after much prayer and self-reflection, I found the strength and courage to forgive Terry Williams.
“I do not wish to see Terry Williams executed,” Norwood wrote. “His execution would go against my Christian faith and my belief system. He is worthy of forgiveness, and I am at peace with my decision to forgive him and have been for many years. I wish to see his life spared.”
Five members of the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury that condemned Williams for the murder of Amos Norwood have said they would have opted for life in prison had they heard mitigating evidence about Williams’ horrific childhood of sexual abuse by a neighbor, a teacher, and Norwood himself.
“The evidence of abuse in this case is clear,” reads a letter of support signed by 26 child advocates and experts in sexual abuse. “There can be no doubt that Terry was repeatedly and violently abused and exploited as a child and teenager by manipulative older men.
“Terry’s acts of violence have, alas, an explanation of the worst sort: enveloped by anger and self-hatred, Terry lashed out and killed two of the men who sexually abused him and caused him so much pain.”
Read more about Norwood’s act of forgiveness.
Mother of Teen Killed in Jet Ski Collision Offers Forgiveness
Honolulu, HawiiNewsNow.com – A California mother who’s 16-year-old daughter was killed in a jet ski collision is offering forgiveness to the Australian tourist who slammed into her daughter’s jet ski last month.
The teenager died of a brain injury a day after the collision. Her grieving mother said she has forgiven the 20-year-old Australian for causing her family so much pain.
“Because that’s the kind of daughter my daughter was, a very forgiving child and so I know that’s something she would want me to do,” said a tearful Evangelina Canton.
Tyson Dagley, 20, will be sentenced for negligent homicide on Wednesday as Kristen Fonseca’s family struggles to move on.
“I cry in the morning. I cry before I go to sleep. I cry randomly during the day,” said Fonseca’s mother, Evangelina Canton.
Canton’s heart is aching. Fonseca, 16, was riding a rented jet ski last month during a family vacation. The young visitor from Vacaville, Calif. had slowed down her Yamaha WaveRunner, but behind her, Dagley wasn’t looking ahead.
Read more about the mother’s forgiveness.
Forgiveness and Physical Health
U.S. News and World Report – Author Angela Haupt reviews some of the latest scientific studies linking forgiveness to positive physical health. Dr. Enright’s book, The Forgiving Life, is featured as is a brief description of his forgiveness model.
According to the article, experts say that forgiving those who have wronged us helps lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart rate. One study found that forgiveness is associated with improved sleep quality, which has a strong effect on health. And Duke University researchers report a strong correlation between forgiveness and strengthened immunity among HIV-positive patients. The benefits aren’t just limited to the physical, either: Letting go of old grudges reduces levels of depression, anxiety, and anger. People who forgive tend to have better relationships, feel happier and more optimistic, and overall, enjoy better psychological well-being.
Read the full U.S. News and World Report story: How to Forgive, and Why You Should. The same article also appears in 9/2/12 issue of The Huffington Post.
Creator of Thalidomide Asks Forgiveness
Long Island Newsday – The German manufacturer of Thalidomide, Gruenenthal Group, apologized to mothers who took thalidomide during the 1950s and 1960s and to their children who suffered congenital birth defects because of the drug.
“We ask for forgiveness that for nearly 50 years we didn’t find a way of reaching out to you from human being to human being,” Harald Stock said. “We ask that you regard our long silence as a sign of the shock that your fate caused in us.”
Thalidomide, a powerful sedative, was sold under the brand name Contergan. It was given to pregnant women mostly to combat morning sickness, but led to a wave of birth defects in Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan. Thalidomide was yanked from the market in 1961 and was also found to cause defects in the eyes, ears, heart, genitals and internal organs of developing babies.
Thalidomide was never approved for use in pregnant women in the United States.
Read more: Thalidomide Maker Asks Forgiveness.
“We Forgive You,” Says Father of Slain Son to the Killer
Waltham (Ma) News Tribune – For the first time in nearly two years, Mamadou Ndiaye got to speak to the man who stabbed and killed his only son, Elhadji.
But, instead of lashing out at Robenson Daniel, Ndiaye spoke of forgiveness.
“We forgive you, from our heart,” Ndiaye told Daniel after Daniel pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court Thursday to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of Elhadji Ndiaye at Regis College.
“We forgive you, person-to-person, we forgive you. As a family, we forgive you,” Ndiaye said. “This is the hardest thing that has ever happened to me. He was my only son. Nothing this hard will ever happen to me again, but we are human and we forgive you.”
Read more: Father of slain Waltham teen to son’s killer: ‘We forgive you’.
