23 June 2008

Extraordinary Forgiveness ~ Moving Beyond POW and Other Horrific War Experiences

While I'm quite ambivalent about John McCain's US Presidential candidacy, I've been quite moved by his and other POW stories of forgiveness. I was introduced to the compelling and important moral domain of Prisoners of War and other sorts of "war enemies" by no less than James Clavell as immortalized by his epic Asian Saga, which included both his World War II experience in Changi Jail on Singapore and subsequent effective reconciliation with his former Japanese captors. Jim Halperin's First Immortal also features a tremendously powerful forgiveness meme with an even more personal story. And we have several public case examples of former enemies at Pearl Harbor or other war fronts reconciling and, in a fundamental way, moving on towards a better, more cordial, gracious, friendly, even loving future. There is something extraordinary here which must be understood and captured fully in order for humanity to advance as a species and move beyond such despicable situations as exist in today's oppression and conflict-zones. And this also includes understanding the truth & reconciliation efforts in South Africa and Ireland and other challenging national and ex-colonial situations.

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