News
Restorative Justice Program Helps Mother of Deceased to See Killer’s Humanity
The Mirror newspaper of London – Grace Idowu lost her son to a knife-attacker in South London and as part of a restorative justice program, she recently visited in prison the teenage boy who took her son’s life. Mrs. Idowu reported that she was surprised to see a remorseful, sobbing boy in front of her. She was able to see his deep regret and when he asked her to forgive him, she did.
She imagined he would be a monster. Most parents would never want to take a second look at the person who took their precious child away from them. But Grace, 52, made the bold decision to go and visit Elijah Dayoni in prison after he brutally knifed her 14-year-old son David to death.
And today she insists she has totally forgiven Dayoni for what he did… and wants to help him become a better person.
Acceptance/Forgiveness and Reconciliation/Restorative Justice
PsychCentral blog – An interesting post today at this website discusses acceptance and forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice. Full blog post here.
Forgiveness as Freedom
Black Hills Pioneer newspaper, Spearfish, South Dakota – Holocaust survivor, Eva Mozes Kor, addressed a beyond-capacity crowd at Black Hills State University this week. Her message was forgiveness of the Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, who experimented on her twin sister and her at Auschwitz. She told the audience that she thought, as a young child, everyone lived as she did—without parents, in horrid conditions. Despite the atrocity, she has found it in her heart to forgive him. A central message to the audience was this: Everything we do in daily life touches other people, she said. Do not forget that.
Kor was 10 years old when she and her family were brought to Auschwitz by train in a cattle car in 1944. She and her twin sister Miriam were separated from the rest of their family by a Nazi guard searching for twins for the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele to experiment on. Mengele performed many horrific experiments on inmates at Auschwitz, but he was particularly interested in twins. Kor feels that being selected for Mengele’s twin experimentations contributed greatly to her and Miriam’s survival.
Forgiveness Is a Choice: As a Way to Goodness and Happiness
On March 3, Dr. Bob gave a presentation to a group at Blackhawk Church in Madison, Wis.?? The talk focused on forgiveness as a way to goodness and happiness and was framed by the following questions or key points:
How can we set up Forgiving Communities?To order an audio cd of this presentation, please contact Kevin Randall, Clinical Director of “The Center for Christian Counseling, Consultation and Training, Inc.”??at 608.274.8294
How, Why and When to Forgive a Transgression
Dick Goldberg, veteran talk show host, produces “psychology podcasts to help, motivate, and inspire you.” He interviewed Dr. Robert Enright on Tuesday, March 6 on the subject of “How, Why and When to Forgive a Transgression.
Dick Goldberg hosted “For Love or Money” for 8 years on Wisconsin Public Radio and produced and hosted over 150 programs on PBS on the series “Insights” and “Inside Business Today,” which were broadcast on over 200 PBS-TV stations. He is a practicing therapist in Madison, Wisconsin for the past 30 years, as well as the author of 4 books. Dick has a passion for helping shape interviews into clear and useful information for his listeners, and making his guests, not himself, the “star” of the program.
His 30-minute podcast with Dr. Enright is available here.
