News
Mother’s “I Forgive You” Reduces Sentence for Man Convicted of Manslaughter
CBS Evening News, Tallahassee, Florida – When Eric Smallridge was convicted of DUI manslaughter in 2003, Renee Napier, who lost her daughter, was ambivalent about forgiving. Yet, over time, her sense of forgiveness deepened to such a degree that she went to the authorities and asked that Smallridge’s sentence be reduced. He was released last week, long before he was expected to be released. He and Renee now go into high schools together, warning students about the dangers of drinking and driving. Forgiveness as a gift to Eric has become an indirect gift to students, who are given important information on driver safety.
Read the full story: “Mother’s forgiveness gives convict second chance.”
Returning Exiles Show Capacity for Forgiveness in Myanmar
Los Angeles Times, Yangon, Myanmar – Maung Thura, a comedian known as Zarganar, spent 11 years in prison including five in solitary confinement for his open criticism of the repression he witnessed in Myanmar while the country was under military rule. Released in 2011 after the military junta was dissolved, Zarganar now expresses forgiveness rather than rancor for his former captors.
“This is not a time for revenge,” he said. “Otherwise, it becomes a circular motion that never ends.”
According to a variety of sources, Zarganar’s willingness to forgive–seemingly incomprehensible to many outsiders–is shared by thousands of dissidents and student leaders released from prisons or invited back to Myanmar, also known as Burma, after years in exile.
This flexibility on both sides offers hope the country can move more quickly toward national reconciliation, avoiding a settling of scores and crippling divisions seen in other countries struggling to emerge from decades of totalitarian rule.
Read more about the role of forgiveness in Myanmar in the Los Angeles Times article “In Myanmar, returning exiles show capacity for forgiveness.”
One Woman’s Path to Forgiving the Unforgiveable
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN – In 1973, Marietta Jaeger Lane’s 7-year-old daughter, Susie, was kidnapped from her tent in the middle of the night on a family camping trip to Montana. It was not until a year later that the kidnapper was caught and confessed, not just to killing Susie, but to the murders of three other children. Lane visited the man in jail, just before he hanged himself. He was 26.
After finally being able to bury Susie on a beautiful October afternoon in 1974, Lane drove to the home of the man’s mother.
“I wanted to tell her I had forgiven David, the David she knew who cut her lawn and took her shopping,” she said. “We just held each other and wept, two mothers who had lost their children.”
Lane has since become a sought-after speaker on forgiveness.
“You have every right to your initial rage and grief,” says Lane, the mother of four adult children. “Forgiveness takes daily, diligent discipline. It’s not for wimps. But hatred isn’t healthy. Forgiveness sets us free.”
Read more about Lane’s forgiveness work in “One Woman’s Path to Forgive Unforgiveable”
Man Serving 40-Year Sentence Is Forgiven by Woman Who Lost Her Family
Idaho Statesman – Nine years ago, a man who was not a drinker, became intoxicated, traveled 98-miles-per hour down the wrong side of the road, and killed Natalie Marti’s husband and infant daughter. She, too, sustained serious injuries requiring 3 years of patient healing. Despite all of this, Natalie offered forgiveness to Edgar Vasquez, currently serving a 40-year sentence for the crime. Mr. Vasquez’s life has changed considerably, and for the better, because of this bold act of forgiveness.
Read the full story, “Fatal DUI crash shows both sides of forgiveness.”
“I Forgive You” – True Stories of Forgiveness
In an effort to facilitate healing through forgiveness, the gmc television network will air a documentary series called “I Forgive You” that premieres Nov. 18.
This emotional, uplifting and compelling series provides individuals the opportunity to forgive someone who has hurt them or a loved one. Whether the affliction is physical or emotional–the murder of a family member, an estranged parent, or sibling, infidelity, or bullying–the series brings two parties together to try to facilitate healing, overcome hatred, anger and revenge from real-life traumatizing events. Each story will showcase the “forgiver” and the “receiver” of the forgiveness before, during and after an act of forgiveness.
“I don’t know of anywhere on television where you get to see the raw, gripping emotions that stem from the act of forgiveness,” Brad Siegel, gmc TV’s vice chairman said of the network’s first unscripted series.
According to Emmy-winning producer Arnold Shapiro, “Forgiveness has the drama of any Shakespearean play. There is suspense, emotion, drama, uncertainty…. tears.”
Siegel added, “Viewers will come away from “I Forgive You” feeling enriched, inspired and amazed at these true stories that show the best in human nature.”
The gmc channel is available on Dish Network on channel 188, on DIRECTV channel 338, Verizon FiOS channel 224 and on many local cable networks. Newsmagazine Hollywood Today outlines the series at “Forgiveness is a complicated gesture.” Channel Guide Magazine provides summaries of the stories in the Nov. 18 premiere at “Bullying, murder victims offer forgiveness in GMC’s ‘I Forgive You.'” Watch video outtakes from the series at the gmc (uplifting entertainment) website.
