THOUGHTS TO PONDER

‘Forgetting in spite of remembering is forgiveness’–Paul Tillich

I’ve seen some wonderfully powerful theatre this week, but none more so than the play ‘Truth in Translation’ about the Truth and Reconciliation process in S. Africa, in which surviving victims of apartheid, or the families of those killed, were able to tell their stories of unimaginable suffering, shaming, and cruelty during the long years of suppression and ‘apart-hate.’ The hearings were facilitated by Bishop Desmond Tutu, who listened and gently drew out the toxins of buried pain. Individuals spoke of witnessing the ‘necklacing’ of some, the arbitrary hacking to death of others, chilling accounts mirroring all-too-real events of the time…

The performance, though, carried us from that very bleak context to what was, I think, the underlying message of the possibility – indeed the necessity – of forgiveness. What impressed me was that forgiveness was never seen as the ‘easy option’, but just the beginning of the pathway to reconciliation, and the restoration of more equal relationships. The possibility of forgiveness followed the willingness of the perpetrators to hear the depth of anger and pain caused.  Racism is not yet dead, but the ‘rainbow nation’ is closer to the ‘new creation’ than apartheid could ever be. That is something to celebrate…

Quite a lot depended on the ability to listen, and I realised all over again how difficult that is for all of us.  Really to listen, without the background static of our own agendas, our readiness to judge, refute, deny or otherwise invalidate another.  Paul Tillich said ‘the first duty of love is to listen’. There is, I think, a wealth of wisdom in that. And St Benedict’s advice to a new novice in the monastery was simply to ’Listen!’

I began with another of my favourite quotes from Tillich – about forgetting in spite of remembering being the essence of forgiveness.  The Truth and Reconciliation process could result in forgiveness only because there was first acknowledgement of wrong-doing then the resumption of life again – a kind of necessary letting-go by the victim. The scars – the rememberings – were forever, the commitment to moving-on a choice.

My own reflections following this excellent production reminded me of the power of forgiveness in other contexts (Bishop Tutu continued to enable perpetrators and victims of the ‘troubles’ in Ireland to confront each other, with considerable success). At its core it’s about restoring relationships, rebuilding community.  As such it’s surely one of the most vital functions of a community of faith?

Mary McMahon