When victims forgive, healing takes place

FORGIVENESS can be a powerful tool for change.
It can heal raw emotional wounds and subdue rage, vengeance, resentment and intolerance in even the hardest of characters.
The definition of forgiveness is the conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance towards a person or group who, or which, has harmed you – regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.
In Papua New Guinea where the payback system is rife in times of conflict, some people are rising above this base but the culture is so entrenched in our society.
This past Easter, we received disturbing news of killings in Hela and Port Moresby, armed hold-ups and vehicle thefts – the list goes on. We hear of families mourning the passing of loved ones.
A Sepik family in Port Moresby lost their father in a hold-up at the weekend. He was a senior citizen who had given his time to serving this country through his role in the public service.
Why did the criminals not just take his car and leave?
Why shoot him?
Sadly, this is the society we are living in and what our children will grow up into in the future.
Up in Hela, reports say it’s chaos with tribal fighting resulting in deaths.
To think that Hela is one of the provinces hit by the earthquake in February and with restoration of service about to start, a man-made disaster like this is not what we need.
News from the Southern Highlands family in Port Moresby says a father and his daughter escaped an attempted carjacking but the daughter was shot in the face, living her with shattered teeth and bullet fragments in her right cheek.
The harsh reality is that we live in a cruel world where more often than not, darkness can be found not only surrounding our everyday lives, but also within ourselves.
The young lady who was the victim on Good Friday, while in the emergency room, wrote on a notebook: “Jesus suffered more than what I am going through. I’m ok.”
Her post of forgiveness has gone viral on social media: “I forgive the guys who shot me. Sometimes life is not fair and it forces people to become who they were not meant to be.”
She adds: “Oh, how wonderful it would be if the government did everything for one reason, the betterment of its people. Those rascals running around doing what they’re doing, imagine if they had access to education and then good jobs.
“Trust me, they would not do what they’re doing. I pray for that day to come soon.”
Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offence, let’s go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.
Pope Francis, in his Easter address on Sunday, called for peace in the Holy Land two days after 15 Palestinians were killed on the Israeli-Gaza border, saying the conflict there does not spare the defenceless.
To think that conflicts do not spare the defenceless and it is happening also in this country makes you wonder why?
During Easter, the light of the risen Christ is supposed to illumine the consciences of all leaders, calling for change.
We can only hope it happens.