News
Mother to Sell Heirlooms to Help Gang Members Who Killed Her Son
The Daily Mirror, London, England – A grieving mother whose son was stabbed to death by gang members has pledged to sell her family heirlooms to give his killers a better life.
Fatemah Golmakani’s son, Milad, was ambushed by four gang members last April while he was playing soccer in London, England. The 22-year-old was knifed 14 times and left to die. His four killers — three 19-year-olds and one 17-year-old — were all jailed last month and will be serving between 19 and 22 years before release.
The mother of four has vowed to open a charity in Milad’s memory to not only support other troubled teenagers and gang members, but also to help his son’s killers while they are imprisoned and when they get out. She said she plans to fund the charity by selling her diamond earrings, her grandmother’s watch and a crystal chandelier that has been in her family for more than 200 years.
“This charity will be a present to the killers,” Golmakani said. “I want to replace their knives and guns with flowers. I want to bring their humanity back even if my son is gone.”
Though Golmakani admits that she was once bitter and angry about her son’s untimely death, she says she has learned that forgiveness is the greatest remedy for grief.
Read the full story, “Mum of knife victim plans to sell off heirlooms to help son’s killers.”
Forgiving Muammar Gaddafi for the Lockerbie Bombing
The Wall Street Journal – Lisa Gibson, whose brother died in the Lockerbie bombing, has forgiven the only man convicted in the bombing, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, as well as Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader who was considered the mastermind behind the attack.
In Dec. 1988, Lisa was an 18-year-old college freshman and her brother, Kenneth Gibson, 20 at the time, was serving in the U.S. Army, in Berlin. He was coming home for Christmas on Pan Am Flight 103 when it blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 270 people on board.
Now 42 and living in Colorado Springs, Lisa says she always knew in the back of her mind that she would have to forgive the perpetrators of the attack. “I began to realize that at the heart of terrorism is hate, and the only way I could move away from it was to have light and forgiveness,” she says.
In 2004, she sent a letter to Ali al-Megrahi. It said, simply: “Only God really knows if you are responsible for this act. But as a Christian, I need to forgive you.” He wrote back, said he wasn’t responsible for the bombing but offered his condolences and shared verses from the Koran and the Bible.
Then, in 2009, Lisa met with Gaddafi when he came to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly. In the 10-minute meeting, she told him she had made a decision to forgive and he offered his condolences. “His words said “I didn’t do it,’ but his behavior said he did,” says Lisa.
Read the full story: Forgiving Muammar Gaddafi for the Lockerbie Bombing.
Boy, 14, Kills Mother, Family Offers Forgiveness
Detroit Free Press – As a 14-year-old boy was given 25-50 years for shooting his mother in the night, his uncle and grandmother were offering him forgiveness. His uncle, Leshaun Roberts, hugged the boy before he was taken away and said, “I forgive you and I love you. Please get him some help.”
Smith is accused of fatally shooting his mother, Tamika Robinson of Detroit, over a fight stemming from her telling the teen not to bring girls home or hang out with boys she regarded as thugs. On Feb. 27, Smith broke into a home office, where Robinson’s fiancé kept his gun, and shot her in the middle of the night, police said. He later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Smith apologized in letters he wrote from jail, his grandmother said, claiming he was tired of seeing his mother suffer from debilitating bouts of the effects of lupus as well as kidney failure.
Read the full story: Family offers forgiveness to Detroit boy, 14, sentenced in mother’s shooting.
Widow of Killed Cyclist Offers Forgiveness to Errant Driver
KRQE News, Albuquerque, NM – It was something you don’t expect to see at a sentencing — an emotional widow telling the woman who killed her husband that she forgives her and that the woman should forgive herself.
Sherri Anderson, whose husband Dave was killed as their family was on a bicycle ride two years ago, spoke to a packed courtroom prior to the sentencing of Miranda Pacheco who was driving the car that veered off the road and crashed into Dave Anderson on a bike path.
“Miranda, Miranda, I forgive you! I really forgive you,” Sherri Anderson said. “This doesn’t mean I excuse what you did but forgiveness is not foolishness, Miranda!”
Anderson said she hoped Pacheco would teach others the difficult lesson she learned from the tragedy. Then she showed a video of Dave Anderson through the years before playin a song about forgiveness for Pacheco.
Read the full story and watch the KRQE News video: Family of Killed Cyclist Offers Forgiveness.
Bullied Teenage Girl Kills Herself, Leaves YouTube Video Behind
ABC News.go.com – 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. The IFI is doing its part to combat bullying by developing a program that targets the anger within those who bully so that they no longer displace their inner rage onto others.
Read the full story and watch the video: Bullied Teen Leaves Behind Chilling YouTube Video.
