News
Road Tragedy Leads to Forgiveness and New Road Safety Group
702 ABC Sydney, Australia – Sarah Frazer was like any 22 year old woman. Dreams, aspirations and excitement. On a sunny February day, while on her way to Wagga Wagga to start college, her car broke down on the Hume Highway in the Southern Highlands. She called roadside assistance and a tow truck arrived some time later. Driver Geoff Clark began loading the car.
Some 10 minutes later, both would be dead. Hit by a truck.
Months later, Sarah’s father Peter Frazer travels the countryside speaking about the importance of road safety and treating everyone on the road like they’re family. “You never hear about what happens after an accident. What I’m doing is about standing beside the people and acknowledging their loss.”
Frazer also noted the healing process of forgiveness.
“When Kaine’s case was adjourned, my daughter Rebecca comforted his girlfriend,” Frazer said of Kaine Barnett who was driving the truck. “I saw Kaine banging his head, weeping. I hugged him, and said we forgave him.”
Frazer and his family intend to visit Barnett while he serves his 3 year sentence for manslaughter.
This week (May 4-10) is Road Safety Week and the SARAH (Safer Australian Roads and Highways) Group is asking motorists to tie a yellow ribbon to their car in memory of the 1,200 killed and 30,000 injured on Australian roads last year.
Read the full report: “Father says forgiveness was key to healing after accident.”
Beyond Right & Wrong: Stories of Justice and Forgiveness
It’s been 20 years since the Genocide in Rwanda claimed the lives of more than 800,000 people. You can hear survivors’ stories in their own words by watching Beyond Right & Wrong: Stories of Justice and Forgiveness.
Beyond Right & Wrong presents the stories of people who have experienced loss and the stories of people who have caused that loss. From the Rwandan Genocide to the Troubles in Northern Ireland to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, people from different sides of the violence have entrusted all of us with their stories—their anger or remorse, their pain, their paths to recovery.
In the stillness after conflict, after the blood dries and the screams fade, the memory of violence transforms survivors into prisoners of their own pain. How do whole societies recover from devastating conflict? Can survivors live—converse, smile, and even laugh—beside someone who blinded them, killed their parents, or murdered their children? Can victims and perpetrators work together to rebuild their lives? This life-changing documentary explores the intersections of justice and forgiveness as survivors heal from these tragedies.
How I Forgave the Unforgivable
KOCO.com, Oklahoma City, OK – Kathy Sanders has titled her new book “Now You See Me: How I Forgave the Unforgivable.” The book details her relentless pursuit of the truth following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people on April 19, 1995. The blast killed her grandchildren–Chase, 3, and Colton, 2.
“Now You See Me” is a book, Sanders says, she did not plan on writing, about a life she would have rather ended at one point.
“After the bombing I wanted to die,” said Sanders. “I didn’t want to live in a world filled with so much pain. I didn’t know how I was going to cope and if I was going to survive.”
To help her cope with the heartbreak, Sanders launched her own investigation into the bombing. She wanted to know every person who may have known about the bombing and what the government might be hiding. Her questions led to a decades-long journey and ultimately she met face-to-face with Terry Nichols (a convicted accomplice in the Oklahoma City Bombing along with Timothy McVeigh).
Her book reveals letters, phone calls and visits with Nichols and his family. Their exchanges turned to friendship and finally, through her Christian faith, forgiveness.
“I didn’t set out ever intending to forgive Terry Nichols, Timothy McVeigh or anyone else involved in this crime, but learning to forgive was a gift I gave myself,” said Sanders.
She’s aware that forgiving the unforgivable may appall others who lived through April 19, yet insists it is the only way she could move on and focus now on happy memories made with two precious little boys.
“What I have today is peace from learning how to forgive,” said Sanders. “I’ve got a song in my heart and a smile on my face.”
Read the full story: “19 years after Murrah bombing, grandmother shares story of loss, forgiveness.”
Business Owner Forgives Men Who Robbed and Shot Him
WDIO-TV, Duluth, MN – Business owner Colin Mackin said he forgives the two men who shot him in the chest while burglarizing his store, and has moved on.
Brandon Tyson and Robert Neft have both pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder for the December incident. On Monday, a judge sentenced each to 12 1/2 years in prison.
“The thing about being bitter and holding grudges is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die,” according to Mackin, owner of ILF Smartphone Clinic in Duluth. “It just doesn’t really accomplish anything.”
Read the full story: “Men Sentenced in Duluth Attempted Murder, Victim Offers Forgiveness.”
Read. Digest. Repeat.
To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless. Gilbert K. Chesterton
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. Marianne Williamson
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love?’ These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will be many fruits, here in this world and the life to come. Henri Nouwen
Forgiveness has a way of cutting through anger, anxiety and depression and restoring emotional health. By forgiving, an individual refuses to let anger and resentment prevail. Dr. Robert Enright
Read more forgiveness quotes at: BrainyQuote.com.
