Forgiveness News
Closure for Boston Bombing Victims: Death Penalty, Life in Prison, or Forgiveness?
CNN.com U.S. News, New York City, NY – When a federal jury sentenced Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death last month, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh issued a statement expressing “hope [that] this verdict provides a small amount of closure” to everyone affected by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed four people and wounded hundreds more.
Like Mayor Walsh, most everyone hopes the victims of the bombing — including the families of the four people murdered by the Tsarnaev brothers — can find some relief from their anguish. Will this death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev help them?
Bill and Denise Richard, whose 8-year-old son was killed in the bombing, don’t think so. They recently wrote an open letter in the Boston Globe urging the Justice Department to take the death penalty “off the table.”
“The continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives,” wrote the Richards, who suffered severe injuries from the bombing; their 7-year-old daughter lost her left leg.
For many victims, feelings of pain and loss may never go away, regardless of how Tsarnaev is punished. But psychological research has found that one way to achieve greater peace of mind is through forgiveness.
Researchers like Dr. Robert Enright, co-founder of the International Forgiveness Institute in Madison, WI, stress that forgiving does not mean absolving an offender of guilt; instead, it means deliberately letting go of feelings of anger and vengeance toward the offender — a way to stop ruminating on the offense and free yourself of the power it has over you.
“It’s a way of saying, ‘I’m going to take my life back because I’m getting swallowed up by hatred,” according to Loren Toussaint, an associate professor of psychology at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), who studies forgiveness. “It’s an act of transformative empowerment … that allows someone to move forward.”
Read the full story including research results from crime victims on the effects of punishment vs forgiveness: “Does Death Penalty Bring Closure?“
8 Keys to Forgiveness: Dr. Enright’s New Book Unlocks the Forgiveness Process
While it may seem like a simple enough act, forgiveness is a difficult, delicate process that, if executed correctly, can be a profoundly moving and deep learning experience. Whatever the scenario may be—whether you need to make peace with a certain situation, with a loved one or 
friend, or with a total stranger—the process of forgiveness is an art and a science.
8 Keys to Forgiveness is a how-to guide by the man Time magazine has called “the forgiveness trailblazer”—Dr. Robert Enright, who has researched, developed and implemented forgiveness education programs for the past 30 years.
This hands-on guide walks readers through the process in 8 key steps. How can we become forgivingly “fit”? How can we identify the source of our pain and inner turmoil? How can we find meaning in what we have suffered, or learn to forgive ourselves? What should we do when forgiveness feels particularly hard? All these questions and more are answered here, leading us to become more tolerant, compassionate, and hopeful human beings.
“This book has the potential to enrich and improve more lives than any psychology book in decades,” according to Frank Farley, Ph.D., former President of the American Psychological Association. “Robert Enright is the pioneer of the psychology of forgiveness, and his great wisdom, experience, and very practical advice are all compiled in this highly readable guide. Don’t give up on forgiveness in your life until you read this book and try its proven strategies.” (Read more reviews and endorsements here.)
Dr. Enright’s latest book is officially publishing September 28 but will be available directly from W. W. Norton & Company for mid-June delivery at the W.W. Norton & Company website.
Parents of slain state trooper forgive accused killer
Reuters, Mount Pocono, PA – “It doesn’t do you any good to hate somebody for whatever they have done to you, because all it does is eat you up. And in the end, what does it do for you? Absolutely nothing.”
Those are the words of Bryon Dickson, father of a slain Pennsylvania State Police trooper who said Sunday that he and his wife have forgiven their son’s alleged killer. Bryon and Darla Dickson said forgiveness has helped them move on and avoid becoming bitter.
Police Corporal Bryon Dickson II was killed by a sniper outside his barracks last fall. The defendant, Eric Frien, is a survivalist now awaiting trial on murder charges that carry a possible death sentence.
“Justice lays behind (us), where Eric Frein must be held accountable for what he did to our son,” Darla said. “Forgiveness, however, lays before us. It is our hope. We know as Christians we will see Bryon again.”
The Dicksons spoke about the death of their son and the healing power of forgiveness during three “Blue Sunday” services honoring law enforcement at the Community Church in Mount Pocono, about 110 miles north of Philadelphia.
“The only alternative is bitterness,” the church pastor, David Crosby Jr., added. “Forgiveness is the difference between becoming bitter and getting better.” Darla and Bryon Dickson nodded in agreement.
Read more:
Parents of slain Pennsylvania trooper forgive accused killer, Business Insider (Reuters – US Edition).
Forgiveness ahead for Trooper Dickson’s parents, The Standard Speaker, Hazleton, PA.
Parents of slain trooper declare forgiveness for man awaiting trial, Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Forgiveness Intervention Improves Health of Women with Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia News Today, Dallas, Texas – Fibromyalgia patients who suffered abuse during childhood achieved “significant improvements in forgiveness, anger and overall fibromyalgia health” after a forgiveness intervention administered as part of a new study conducted by the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI) and University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by widespread chronic musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, stiffness and numbness in certain parts of the body, headaches, sleep disorder
and mood alterations. Fibromyalgia can affect people’s ability to conduct simple daily tasks, compromising their quality of life. Women are usually more affected than men.
Medical researchers believe that childhood abuse or trauma may change the body’s response to stress, potentially leading to the development of fibromyalgia. In fact, people with fibromyalgia have a higher prevalence of childhood abuse compared to the U.S. population in general.
According to the study, clinicians may be able to help patients cope with fibromyalgia through a forgiveness intervention and the changes that it induces in the patient’s mental and physiological state.
The study is entitled “A Forgiveness Intervention for Women With Fibromyalgia Who Were Abused in Childhood: A Pilot Study.” It was published in the September 2014 issue—Vol. 1(3), pages 203-217—of the journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice®, a publication of the American Psychological Association. Study team leaders were Dr. Robert Enright, founder of the IFI who has been studying forgiveness for more than 29 years, and Yu-Rim Lee, UW-Madison Department of Educational Psychology.
Read the full story: Forgiveness Intervention Helps Women with Fibromyalgia Abused During Childhood Improve their Condition.
Read the complete Fibromyalgia Study: A Forgiveness Intervention for Women With Fibromyalgia Who Were Abused in Childhood: A Pilot Study.
Some Auschwitz Survivors Disagree with Eva Mozes Kor
The Irish Times, Dublin, Ireland – The court trial for a former Nazi concentration camp guard has triggered an emotional battle among Holocaust survivors over whether they can – or should – forgive their tormentors.
Former SS Sgt. Oskar Groening is being tried in Germany as an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 Jews at Auschwitz. (See the Forgiveness News article immediately below this one dated 4/28/15 for more on the 93-year-old Groening’s trial.)
Now 81-year-old Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Eva Mozes Kor, who was subjected to horrific experiments at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by camp doctor Josef Mengeleis, is being critized after publicly forgiving Gröening for his role in the crimes against her family.
Other concentration camp survivors (co-plaintiffs in the trial) have attacked Kor for staging a “one- woman rehabilitation” show.
“Being a co-plaintiff in the name of the murdered while using this role for public and personal forgiveness – that doesn’t fit together,” they said in a statement. “We cannot forgive Mr Gröening for his participation in the murder of our relatives.”
Kor, however, is unrepentant. She says her show of forgiveness is a gesture of respect to Holocaust victims and has given her inner peace.
“Even if every Nazi was hanged for their crimes, my life would be the same,” she said. “But if we give each other the hand as humans – good, bad and indifferent – then something can happen.”
Kor added, “I’m a survivor, not a victim. Fostering victimhood doesn’t help victims and society shouldn’t encourage it. We cannot heal victims by continuing victimhood, but by encouraging forgiveness.”
Read the full story: “Auschwitz survivors row over forgiveness”
