Forgiveness is a definition that can be stated in many different ways. No one person has the same idea or thought when talking about forgiveness has many different meanings especially in different situations. The definition to me has to occur in a situation that has a lot of meaning toward you. I have never been in a situation in which something terrible has happened toward me that I would have to forgive someone. I do know that in everyone's lifetime there will come a time where you will have to forgive someone for a specific reason, big or it may be small. The reason forgiveness is a definition that is hard to explain is because each individual has a specific view on what he or she would forgive someone for, and what he or she would not forgive.
There is always a situation in which forgiveness is a given answer you have to state to another person. From when you are a child through being an adult and into your older stages in life, there are those times when you should state your forgiveness toward someone or you had wished forgiveness on them. Then there are the times when you know you did no wrong, and you could never show forgiveness toward someone for what they did or said toward you or someone close to you. Choosing whether you give forgiveness is your choice and only your choice. You alone have the say in everything that happened in the certain situations and so that gives you the right to give forgiveness to that person. The definition to me means that forgiveness is the conclusion of resentment and is what happens because of a certain offense, difference, or mistake.
Since reading “The Sunflower,” I have gained a better knowledge of what forgiveness means. The German soldier in the book really feels compassionate about wanting to show remorse for what he did throughout the Holocaust. He was seeking forgiveness for what has cause to many families. The book to me is showing the real reasons on how someone could forgive a person that has caused so much heartache throughout a whole religion and a certain population of people. I know in many peoples hearts they could not forgive a person who has cause so much damage to families and countries, there is no possible way for a person to show how much heartache was really being shed during the times of the holocaust. It's hard to find out in a person's soul to honestly find it in their hearts to show and give forgiveness to a certain person.
A quote from Tzvetan Todorov states “ Therefore murder, by definition, cannot be forgiven: the injured party is no longer there to do it.”(265) I believe this quote means murder cannot be forgiven by anyone other than the person that the murder killed. Since the deceased is not there, there is no possible way for the murder to be forgiven. The person who murdered the deceased will have to go on for the rest of his life knowing that there is always going to be a burden on his shoulders and will have to deal with the distraught memories.
According to Dith Pran a witness and survivor of the Cambodian killing fields asks “ Can we as humans forgive people who have caused us such grief.”( 230)? He saw many Cambodian people forced into being a killer and they had no other way to go because they would be killed there selves if they didn’t go by the rules. From what has asked, I believe you can always forgive for what a person has done, such as the soldiers during the Holocaust. I think you can forgive them because to me most of these soldiers were trapped or forced. They had no other choice or they had the chance to also be killed. I do think that what they actually did cannot be forgotten. When talking about specific individuals we always have the opportunity to forgive but forgetting about it is always the hard part!
In his response to reading the Sunflower, Sven Alkalaj asks “ Can we, Ought we, forgive murderers who are still alive?” (102) Sven is a Jewish and Bosnian, and has dealt with many things throughout his life. I do believe from what he says there are ways for you to forgive those who have murdered. From what Todorov said the only person who can truly forgive the murderer is the person who was killed and that person truly cant because they are not around anymore. So others also can find it in their heart to forgive because the murder did not happen to them.
While covering many ways to forgive and also on different thoughts of forgiveness, I have learned that there are always way to find forgiveness. Even though every person has a different thought on how they would give or take forgiveness, it is always an option. I believe all can be forgiven, it cannot on the other hand be forgotten!