Forgiveness

I recently read a book about the "real" teachings of Jesus. It was a scholarly book, whose author had read through the many texts attributed to Jesus, and pulled together the ones that were most likely in his own words, as opposed to the words of his disciples or later writers. When you get right down to it, Jesus's teachings were fairly simple: Love your enemies as you love yourself (which of course must be prefaced with loving yourself.) Share what you have with those poorer than you. And practice forgiveness.

I don't know if I would be able to forgive someone who took my child's life. Or a sibling's or my husband's or someone else's whom I love very much. I would like to think that I would try, even if it took the rest of my life.

I read this article with interest. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, one of the men convicted in the downing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland has been released from prison and allowed to return to Libya on "compassionate grounds." He has prostate cancer and has been given just a few more months to live. Under Scottish law, terminally ill prison inmates can be released to spend their final days with their families.

If you read the article, you will see that some of the family members of Lockerbie victims are upset and angry. The Obama administration has expressed their unhappiness with the decision. However, al-Megrahi has maintained his innocence from the start, and there are many in Britain as well as Libya who believe he was wrongfully convicted.

Isn't it interesting that the pleas for showing "no mercy" come from the U.S.?

As I said, I cannot say how I would feel about his release if my child had been on that plane. Still, questions of guilt or innocence aside, I find it very heartening that Scotland has this law. Isn't it in keeping with the essential teachings of Jesus? Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker with this quote from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama: "Compassion is the radicalism of our time."

Your thoughts?