News
Canadian Football Coach Asks Forgiveness After Devastating Loss
Chatham Daily News, Chatham, Ontario, Canada – The Canadian football (soccer) head coach, Stephen Hart, asked for forgiveness following a crushing 8-1 defeat from Honduras. As a result, the Canadian team is now out of the CONCACAF’s final round of World Cup qualifying for a fourth consecutive cycle.
In the guts of a dim and damp Estadio Olimpico Tuesday night, Canadian head coach Stephen Hart met with a small number of Canadian media after watching the Reds register one of the worst results in the history of Canadian sports.
Following an unthinkable 8-1 drubbing in Honduras, a result that put Canada out of CONCACAF’s final round of World Cup qualifying for a fourth consecutive cycle, Hart, at times, was poetic, acknowledging what was a Honduran “lesson in football” and using hard-hitting words like “disturbing” and “crushing” in describing 90 minutes of hell.
He was honest and regretful, asking for forgiveness on behalf of his players while announcing he didn’t expect Canadian supporters to forgive him for a result that will likely haunt him for the rest of his life.
Our question is this: Did the team play at least reasonably up to their ability level? Did they play honestly? If so, what is there to forgive?
Read the story – “Canadian soccer team begs forgiveness” – and then you decide if forgiveness is even an issue.
IFI Program Responds to Destructive Bullying Behavior
ABC News reports that bullying behavior has claimed yet another victim, Amanda Todd, age 15, who apparently killed herself after years of struggling with being bullied. She chronicled her struggle on a YouTube video.
“This kind of tragedy must end,” says Dr. Robert Enright, founder of the International Forgiveness Institute (IFI). “To address this critical issue, we just recently have produced an Anti-Bullying Forgiveness Program focused on helping those who bully to forgive.”
Those who bully usually have pent-up anger, according to Dr. Enright, and they displace their own wounds onto others.
“Our program is meant to take the anger out of the heart of those who bully so that they no longer bully others,” Dr. Enright added. “We hope the IFI Anti-Bullying Forgiveness Program gets into as many schools, internationally, as possible.”
The IFI program is for children in grade 4 (age 9) through grade 9 (age 14) and is intended for use with those who are showing bullying behavior. The purpose of this guide is to help such students to forgive those who have deeply hurt them. Bullying behavior does not occur in a vacuum, Dr. Enright believes, but can result from deep inner rage, not resulting from those who are bullied but often from others who have hurt them in their family, school, or neighborhood.
“We have scientifically demonstrated that forgiveness can be a powerful way of reducing pent-up anger,” Dr. Enright says, referring to his 25 years of forgiveness study and research. “We believe that the competent use of our new guide will not only reduce–but also play a part in eliminating–bullying behavior. It is our contention that bullying starts from within, as anger, and comes out as displaced anger onto the victim. Forgiveness targets this anger and then reduces it, thus reducing or eliminating the displaced anger which comes out as bullying.”
The eight-week Anti-Bullying Forgiveness Program is available in the Store section of this website.
Eric Lomax, “The Railway Man,” Dies at Age 93
The Vancouver Sun – A prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, forced to build the infamous Burma to Siam railway, Eric Lomax, age 93, passed away on October 8. Mr. Lomax went on a quest to find and forgive his interrogator, sparking interest from around the world.
Eric Lomax, a former British prisoner of war whose moving tale of wartime torture and forgiveness is being turned into a film, died Monday in Berwick-upon-Tweed in northern England, his publisher, Vintage Books, reported. Lomax was 93.
Lomax was a British army officer when he was captured by Japanese forces as they overran Singapore in 1942. Lomax endured horrific conditions and savage beatings as he and thousands of others were put to work building the infamous Burma to Siam railway.
Lomax endured years of suppressed rage at the torture he suffered at the hands of his Japanese captors, but when he tracked his interrogator down, it set the stage for a dramatic act of forgiveness that formed the heart of his celebrated 1995 memoir, The Railway Man.
His book, The Railway Man, published in 1995, has been an inspiration for those wanting to forgive offenders for severe offenses. It is currently being turned into a movie staring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.
Read the full story “Ex-POW’s Tale of Forgiveness Touched Millions.”
After 60-Year Sentence, Murderer Asks Forgiveness from Victim’s Son
Sacramento Bee (California) – While being led away to serve a 60-year sentence for murder, the convicted man, Sergio Gomez, turned to the murdered man’s son and asked him for forgiveness. The son, Alejandro Davila, embraced Mr. Gomez and wished him the best, adding, “someday I’ll be able to forgive him.”
It looks from here that Mr. Davila already is well along the path of forgiveness.
Read the full story: “South Texas man asks victim’s son for forgiveness”
Forgiving the Person Who Murdered His Only Son
The Huffington Post – Investment banker Azim Khamisa’s only son, Tariq, was shot and killed in 1995 by a 14-year-old gang member while Tariq was at work delivering a pizza in La Jolla, CA. Khamisa became so distraught that at one point he was suicidal.
But then, after much soul-searching, Khamisa did something most people would consider impossible. He reached out to the family of the young shooter by offering forgiveness and compassion.
“Forgiveness is not well understood in our culture,” Khamisa says. “But I have a better life because I forgived. I came to realize that resentment is very corrosive. If you’re out there carrying resentment, you’re not going to be living at 100 percent of your capacity.”
Read the full story: “Could You Forgive Someone Who Murdered Your Only Son?”
