"To err is human, to forgive is divine". An excellent quote by the English poet Alexander Pope that should inspire us all. Forgiveness on a personal level is an act of maturity that emerges from the deep understanding of human nature and the more someone knows, the more he/she forgives. However, forgiveness is an individual right and not a collective right. For this same reason, if somebody is convicted and even if the victim drops the charges, the system still impose a punishment on the offender. Forgetfulness at the personal level is not forgiveness while on a social or collective level both forgetfulness and forgiveness are equivalent.
In our society, things are going in the wrong direction and both the personal and collective acts are disastrous. We tend to collectively forget and when the same issue is assessed on an individual level, no forgiveness is offered. This should be completely reversed in order to have a healthy society. For example, if a famous figure in our country makes a mistake, it takes few weeks for people to collectively forget about his/her misconduct. Thus people have collectively forgiven that person by forgetting. While when you approach people individually even after years, you notice that people are still holding grudges and bitterness against that person for that same act.
We as individuals have the right to forgive when the damage is inflected on us only and not on others. Collective forgetfulness is a big problem that paralyzes the system and makes it very difficult for it to evolve. A good judicial system can not be based on such a phenomena. People complain about the system and yet they do not even offer a push to that system in the basic needs that fuel up an evolutionary path for it.
What should we do?
We should be selective in our forgiveness when the damage is social or collective. This is the role of civil societies and political subgroups of bigger political entities.
No comments:
Post a Comment