After reading Simon Wiesenthal's book the Sunflower and the other readings within the book by various authors it made me feel somewhat of a confused opinion about forgiveness and gave me the opportunity to think about what a person would have felt after being involved in the Holocaust. Is it possible for somebody to forgive another human being for doing something so horrible to you, your family, or fellow people of the same race, gender, or ones who are disabled? Most people, included myself, would not even think about forgiving somebody who has done something so horrible to us or to our families. I believe that there are certain scenarios when one could forgive and then there are other scenarios where one wouldn't be able to forgive.

     There are many different issues that people go through that they end up facing the question of whether to forgive or not to forgive. According to Irving Roth he says that he does not like the word forgiveness and that one cannot just say that they are sorry for what they have done but they must do something active to prove that they are truly sorry and then they could be forgiven. With this one may be forgiven to a certain extent. If you get into a fight or steal something from someone then you can be forgiven because you can fix what you have done or buy them something that you stole or pay for something that they need or give them money. One could tell the other person that they were honestly sorry and that they have done wrong and truly mean it. On top of that one must go above and beyond that and do something that will prove to them that you are truly sorry for what you have done and that it will not happen again and fix what happened. However when it comes to things on the level with the Holocaust then there is no way of forgiving.  

     After reading the Sunflower it gave me the perspective of being a Holocaust survivor and what it might possibly be like if I were in one of the Jews shoes. I can now see why most Jews will not forgive the Nazis for what they have done. When the SS soldier is asking for forgiveness from Simon, I felt some remorse but then realized that there is no way in hell I would be able to forgive him for what he had done to my family and fellow comrades. I would probably just walk away without saying a word just like Simon did himself. Within the Sunflower, I read a short response by a man named Harry Wu, who was a prisoner by the Chinese in a labor camp for nineteen years, who states this about the soldiers that murdered his fellow people, “I understand why you were a part of a horrible and vicious society. You are responsible for your own actions but everyone else in this society shares that same responsibility with you” (274). This statement makes us realize that no matter the situation everyone has a choice of what they do even if it’s following orders. In addition Wu is implying that even though one is doing the act they are all responsible as a group and if one was forgiven then you would have to forgive all the Nazis, Chinese, or the perpetrators for what they have done. So overall he is implying that forgiveness is impossible because they are responsible for their own actions. Journalist Dennis Prager is in agreement in his Sunflower essay and states, “Conversely, tolerance of murder is the characteristic of a world in decay” (Prager 226). As a society murder cannot be forgiven and it should not be either. So why would an individual? 

   I believe that it is not a person's responsibility to forgive somebody for what they have done, but it is a choice. For somebody to forgive, it would be tremendously difficult because with forgiving somebody it does not take away the memories of what happened and does not change the past and what they have done. Some people are able to do this like Eva Korr, Holocaust survivor and Mengele twin. But this was a choice and for her own healing not for what the Nazi had done to her. I would not be able to forgive something so horrible and there are many other survivors who would agree. If we were to get passed our losses and our memories then maybe we could come to peace with the past by basically overcoming whatever evil has happened to them. I wonder if it is possible to forgive but not forget, because we will always remember what happened or have the memories burned into our memories where it will always remain no matter how hard one tries to get rid of it. This is where it becomes more in God’s realm.

     It is not a person’s responsibility to forgive wrongs on the level of the Holocaust, but it is a choice one has. But I believe that it is in God’s realm to determine if a perpetrator is to be forgiven or not. Journalist Dennis Prager states that, “God Himself does not forgive a person who has sinned against a human being unless that human being has been forgiven by his victim…God presumably can forgive a murderer, but as far as people are concerned, murder is unforgivable” (226). So for forgiveness even with God one must seek repentance and be truly sorry. In the case of the Sunflower I believe that the SS soldier was not truly sorry for what he had done. It was just because he was about to die. Is a person who is about to die able to be repentant? In Karl’s case he just said to bring him any Jew so that he could feel relief from conscience.   

     The Sunflower really makes me think about whether it is possible to forgive or not. The memories are always going to be there and people are still going to be upset or angry about what happened. We cannot go back in time and change what happened. As for myself and many others it is impossible to forgive instances with a degree as horrible as the Holocaust, but one needs to try and live a normal life with what happened and move on without having a hatred continuing inside them. Some people may be able to forgive but as for myself and many others we can’t because the conditions are too high. However regardless of whether one comes to forgive or not they shouldn’t be consumed by all the hatred but live out a fulfilling and successful life.

        

    

  Is it possible for somebody to forgive another human being for doing something horrible to you, your family, or fellow people of your kind? Most people would not even think about forgiving somebody who has done something horrible to them or to their families. I believe that there are certain scenarios when one could forgive and then there are other scenarios where one wouldn't be able to forgive. After reading Simon Wiesenthal's book the Sunflower and the other readings within the book by various authors it made me feel somewhat of a different opinion and gave me the opportunity to think about what a person would have felt being involved in the Holocaust. I also believe that it is not a person's responsibility to forgive somebody for what they have done, but it is in God's hands to determine if they are to be forgiven or not. For somebody to forgive, it would be tremendously difficult because with forgiving somebody it does not take away the memories of what happened and does not change the past.

     There are many different issues that people go through that they end up facing the question of whether to forgive or not to forgive. After reading the Sunflower it gave me the perspective of being a Holocaust survivor and made me feel as if I were in one of the Jews shoes. When the SS soldier is asking for forgiveness from the Jews I felt some remorse but then realized that there is no way in hell I would be able to forgive him for what he did to my family and fellow comrades. I would probably just walk away without saying a word just like Simon did himself. Within the Sunflower I read a short response by a man named Harry Wu, a survivor of the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970’s, who states this about the soldiers that murdered his fellow people, “I understand why you were a part of a horrible and vicious society. You are responsible for your own actions but everyone else in this society shares that same responsibility with you” (Wu 274). This statement makes us realize that no matter the situation everyone has a choice of what they do its either they follow through with it or they go against it. So overall he is implying that one cannot be forgiven since they control their actions even though they are a part of a society where they were taught that the Cambodians were different, the enemy of the country, and they needed to be eliminated. Now if I were a survivor of the Holocaust I would not be able to forgive the Nazis for what they done and probably would not ever think about forgiving them either.

“First, forgiveness. As Wiesenthal’s fellow sufferers and as a number of Jewish respondents noted in the first edition, the relevant Jewish view of forgiveness is that a person who hurts another person must ask for forgiveness from his victim and that only the victim can forgive him. God Himself does not forgive a person who has sinned against a human being unless that human being has been forgiven by his victim” (Prager 226).

With this quote it shows how forgiveness is a personal matter and must be handled personally for that person to be forgiven.

     In today's society we need to have peace and unity between all cultures and different races, because if people are always going to be fighting with people who are different then themselves then we are fighting a never ending war. If people would forgive one another and put the past behind them then the world would become a more peaceful place. Even though the memories are always going to be there and the people are still going to be angry or upset about the incident, it will not make a difference for one cannot change the past. We cannot go back into time, so the best way to deal with it is to not look at what is behind us but at what is waiting up ahead and either forgive them or just have nothing to do with them. The limits of forgiveness are endless. People can forgive and forget continuously but it doesn't matter the number of times we forgive someone, it doesn't come to feel right. I believe that it is possible to forgive but not forget, because we will always remember what happened or have the memories burned into your memory where it will always remain no matter how hard one tries to get rid of it. Catastrophic incidents that occur take some much space of your temporal part of your head which are stored there and are hidden or forgotten. However, when you see a picture or hear someone talking about the incident it is triggered and reminds you of everything that happened and just replays in your head.

     Overall, one can forgive another for what they have done but it’s going to be extremely difficult. Victims can come to peace with their past by basically overcoming their nightmares of what happened to them. Morals are pertaining to the principles or rules of right behavior or the distinction between right and wrong. The victims know what the difference is between right and wrong and what feels right and what feels awkward, but it's their decision to choose whether to forgive or not to forgive. It is possible to forgive somebody but most people will not forgive another person who done so much bad to them, their families, and their fellow people. People will never forget what happened to them and will remain with them for the rest of their lives.  

        

    

            To forgive or not to forgive is the question. Most people who go through traumatic events like the Holocaust executed by other people would not forgive them. Families with children that have been killed by drunk drivers is a good example. They have such a hard time trying to forgive the drivers because they took their only child. Forgiveness is one if the key aspects of life in order to move on with your life. If you don’t forgive someone and live in the past you will dwell on the event that happened.

            As the essay from Robert McAfee Brown states “For if we forget, a time will come when even the worst atrocities will be committed against Jews, and any others whom those with power wish to destroy. That we must never forgive would seem to follow from the same stern logic for if we forgive, it would be a sign to those in the future that they can act without fear of punishment…”

            In the excerpt from Robert’s essay, he says that to never forgive would follow logic. Sometimes logic is not the best way to approach certain things such as forgiveness such as saying “He hurt me so it’s only fair to hurt him back.” This just makes you just as bad as the other person. I understand that we are not going to kill 6 million people to get back at the Nazi party but we can still forgive them. On earth there are different levels of punishment for different crimes but no matter what it is, a sin is a sin no matter how big of difference between the two are. To some people this might see to be injustice to the Jews because of what happened to them but we should still forgive them of their wrong doings.

            By forgiving the Nazis does not mean we are forgetting what they did to us or letting it go by others thinking they can get away with it also. We are just recognizing that they have done wrong and forgiving them of their sin. By no means am I saying that there should not be accountability of the Nazis of their action but just forgiveness. They need to know that we have forgiven them of their crime and still know that there will be punishment if it ever happens again.

            Dennis Prager states in his essay, “God Himself does not forgive a person who has sinned against a human being unless that human being has been forgiven by his victim. Therefore, people can never forgive murder, since the one person who forgive is gone, forever.” Then he goes on saying “God can presumably forgive a murder, but as far as people are concerned, murder is unforgivable. Even parents cannot forgive murder of their child (to assume the parents can forgive their child’s murderer is to render children property rather than autonomous human beings). (Dennis)

            As 1st Corinthians says in chapter 16 verse 9, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (Biblica, 2011) I believe that we are the property of God because he created us himself. In the verse it says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit so we also have the power of God in us (For those of us who ask for it). If we ask God for forgiveness we shall receive it weather or not that individual who was the victim is still alive or not. If we are created in the image of God and He is living in us, we should portray His image as best as we can. We should forgive.

 

         Forgiveness is a powerful act that is done through a persons’ soul. Forgiveness can be given in many ways. It is the acceptance of what happened and understanding the dynamics of the past situation. For many, forgiveness is hard to give. They hold onto the bad events that happened in their past and find it hard to forgive those who sinned towards them. There are many questions to the action of forgiveness. “How can a people make peace with another who moments before were their moral enemies? What are the limits of forgiveness and is repentance-religious or secular-enough? Is it possible to forgive and not forget? How can victims come to peace with their past, and hold on to their own humanity and morals in the process (Wiesenthal xi)”? Well, in my opinion, everyone is capable to forgive. It just depends on if that person can find it in themselves to do it.

            To answer the first question we need to look into the facts of what happened between you and your enemy. In Simon’s case, he was a Jew trapped in the Holocaust and came face to face with his enemy. The soldier asked for forgiveness from him because he was a Jew and the people he killed were already dead; so he couldn’t ask for their forgiveness. The soldier wanted a clear conscience by asking this from Simon. In return, Simon walked out without answering. For Simon, at that moment, it may have been the best thing for him to do. Joseph Telushkin, a rabbi of the Synagogue of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, also agrees with Simon’s act of silence (The Sunflower, 263). But over time, as Simon got an understanding of the situation that most of the soldiers were in, Simon could forgive the soldier. I believe, in any case of threat or despair, you can always learn to forgive. It may take awhile, but it can happen. In the long run, it may be best for you.

            Limits to forgiveness only exist if the person lets’ there be limits. Forgiveness is for you, not the other person. When someone forgives, it helps to heal their wounds. They have an understanding for what happened. When someone forgives, it helps them to move on with their life. They are at better peace with themselves if they learn to forgive. A good example of this would be the quote from Henry Wu, who was a prisoner in China’s prison labor camps by the Communist government during the 1960s: “I understand why you were a part of a horrible and vicious society. You are responsible for your own actions but everyone else in this society shares that same responsibility with you (The Sunflower, 274).” Henry Wu could not forgive a specific person, but he understood what had happened within his country and overall was able to move on with that knowledge.

            Forgetting about something just buries the past. By forgetting, it could hurt someone more than realizing what had been done. Someone should always forgive but never forget. Forgetting, in my opinion, just slaps the forgiveness away. It’s as if saying you’re sorry but not really meaning it. That would be like lying to yourself and denying what happened. Forgiving then forgetting if possible, but that doesn’t mean it is the best thing for someone to do. Also, by trying to forget, it may haunt your conscience and you may have a hard time getting over what happened. I feel, if you are going to forgive, you should recognize what was done and not intentionally forget about it. Sometimes, evil should never be forgotten, so we can spread the news of what evil was trying to invade or toy with.

            Victims who are trying to forgive and keep their morals and humanity in tact at the same time should concentrate on the positive energy that now surrounds them. Forgiving is the first step for them to lead a peaceful life. They should focus on what good they have after dealing with something terrible. While they are forgiving, they should think of the positive things they have throughout everyday life in that moment. Counseling may be a good way to help release some emotions caught inside, so you can forgive a little easier. Releasing emotions that are keeping the fear and agony of what happened will eat away at you. It may be hard to move on if they aren’t released in calming and peaceful manner.

A good example of coming at peace with your past and enemies is from a woman named Imaculee. Imaculee was a part of the Rwanda genocide. She hid in a bathroom with 8 other women, lost her father, and was a witness to her brother’s death. Today, she has forgiven the man who killed her brother and all who took part in such a tragic event. She has revisited Rwanda, and told her story around the world. Another good example is Eva Korr. Eva Korr was a Jewish twin during the Holocaust in Germany. Her sister and she were taken by Dr. Mengele where he conducted experiments on them. He put solutions into Eva’s eyes and injected some kind of liquids into her sister and she’s body. Many years later, after their liberation, Eva’s sister passed away. The experiments Dr. Mengele conducted on Eva’s sister left her damaged and weak until her death. Today, Eva has publicly announced that she forgives everyone involved with the operation of exterminating the Jews and she also forgives Dr. Mengele. Many twins who survived the Holocaust say they can never forgive Mengele and are upset with Eva that she has done so.

These stories of triumph are very real. The people have been through an enormous amount of pain and despair. But, they have been able to do something that most people say they cannot. They have learned to forgive. However, they did not forgive right after it all happened. It took them sometime to move on before they could forgive, or think about forgiving. It was a long process for them before they could forgive, and even when they started to forgive, the process went longer. You don’t have to forgive someone or a party of people right after something terrible or tragic happens. It is completely understandable if you have to wait some time before being able. It may take days, weeks, months, or even years. You can forgive whenever you think you are ready. When you are ready, then you will feel a weight being lifted off your shoulder, because then the event isn’t stuck in the back of your mind. You feel free from what happened to you. You feel at peace with yourself.

Forgiveness is a process that may prove to be challenging, but it is definitely achievable.  Everyone is capable to forgive, if they can find it in themselves to grant it. Forgiveness helps you move on from the past. It can help you lead a more peaceful life. Forgiveness is given in many ways. You don’t have to see the person to say they are forgiven. Sometimes, you forgive an event or a party of people by just knowing in your heart that they are forgiven. Forgiveness is also a very opinion based act. It has many aspects and for some, only used in certain situations. For me, I think to forgive shows how someone can acknowledge what happened and to be able to turn the bad into good. It is important in my life. What about you?

Works Cited

Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower. New York: Schocken, 1998. Print.

In all of our studies concerning the topic of the Holocaust, I have read most often from survivors who do not extend forgiveness towards the Nazis, that they will not for the sake of remembrance. I do not question any thoughts from the victims of the Holocaust, because it is not my experience to differ on. What I do believe is that forgiveness is a personal path that some people, including some survivors of the Holocaust, choose to embrace as a journey of the future beyond suffering, where others might find consolation elsewhere. Forgiveness is, in a way, a means of coping without stewing hate. Forgiveness does not dismiss or bury the past, but it enables victims to acknowledge a period of absolute sadness while also empowering them, if desired, to end a cycle of hate. By identifying the ways people gather strength, readers are encouraged discover their own, personal source for the capacity to forgive.
What drives some people to forgive but not others? I believe from my reading, that people are driven by different factors in their lives. While some rely on their struggles and remember their suffering, like a rope to pull them through trials, others I have read about use the trials as stair steps, climbing ever upwards. I agree with Sidney Shachnow in that the young SS man’s actions were, “…the ultimate and irreversible denial of his humanity”, but in this sense, I wonder if forgiveness lends more to the healing of the victims, not for the redemption of the soldier (Wiestenthal 242). I believe that the soldier’s future after death is not for me to ponder over, rather, how might the victims’ response to his death aid their personal recovery? When concerning forgiveness, “…one senses the no, and the necessity of finding a yes” (243). This statement from Doeothee Soelle portrays some of the emotions people wrestle with surrounding forgiveness. It is difficult to free your perpetrator, but humans by nature seek to resolve turmoil, because ultimately, we want to be happy. Forgiving sees beyond the present state of the person in wrong and discovers, or at least believes in, the potential for good within. My mother taught me to see people this way because of the eight billion humans on this planet, it could have just as easily been one of us driven by eight billion and more factors to become any kind of person.
Many people questioned their spirituality and abandoned their religion during the Holocaust, which is a completely valid action. Adversely, other people relied on their spirituality for strength through their trials. For some, spirituality enables “…an opportunity for the inner transformation of both victim and perpetrator” (235). If a murderer reconciles with God, they must still accept the consequences delivered by justice, else what justice would be delivered in fairness to the offense of the victims? Some argue that murderers sacrifice their humanity in the act of slaughter. I think that is certainly an argument to consider, but I do not have a firm opinion on it either way since I have no way judge by. Forgiveness after some debacle action is an act of compassion because it is due where it is not deserved. It is not mercy, because forgiving should not mean amnesty. For people relying on their religion, they become a forgiver in light of their God or well wishing expressed within their religious beliefs. The influence of one imprisoned Tibetan monk's emotions shaped by his beliefs is illustrated best when discussing his imprisonment in that “…what he most feared was losing his compassion for the Chinese" (130). Instances like these and more show how religion can act as a source of power during times of uncertainty. Perhaps it is these very traits, expressed in his Buddhist beliefs, saved him from hate.
Some people do not rely on religion at all when concerning matters of the present time. Some people forgive others on their personal path to self healing, which is another kind of strength in itself . When people cling to painful memories as a source of fuel for daily life, they become ruled by the very memory of the people who hurt them. Eva Korr is a woman famous for her forgiveness extended to the Nazi soldiers. As a Holocaust victim, her relationship with a Nazi doctor has helped form a mutual understanding of both people involved. She is a justice seeker, in how she simultaneously sued a medical company, Beyer, for using Holocaust victims in medical experiments. This is an instance where forgiveness, which is not amnesty, has occurred. When one allows oneself to forgive, that dominion is released and yes, the memory will always remain, but the oppression will leave. Forgiveness for the benefit of self, for the remembrance of a time that a victim refuses to be trapped in, steals power from hate and returns fulfillment to the forgiver.
When people are empowered within themselves, driven by self, God, or otherwise, to forgive a wrong that does not deserve compassion, verity and love become traits that can not be ignored within the forgiver. Adopting hope and banishing despair does not bury the past, but enables people, both victims and outsiders, to look at a situation of such wrong doing and see through veils of hate to meet the demands for a better future. There is power in forgiveness, and people draw from many sources to transform themselves from victims to advocates and it is those people who educate and change the world that we see. When I met a woman from Uganda named Jacqueline, who came with Invisible Children to speak with at my high school, my whole perspective about forgiveness was altered. Her son was taken when he was ten years old and she never saw him again. That same night, her son's captors also killed her husband. She told us that she could not hate the captors, the murderers, because they were only teenagers themselves. Instead of hating the people that destroyed her family, she hurt for them. And for those children and her own son, she became a public speaker, to help them. That woman's story changed my life. People like Jacqueline, like Eva Korr and like my mother are those who inspire my own self and others to see within people the possibilities of what could be. 

Forgiveness is not about absolving the perpetrators of their crimes, but about the victim’s letting go of the negative emotions associated with those memories and allow them to truly move on. Letting go can make it easier to share these experiences with other people allowing them to better understand you as a person, and understand the events themselves. In order to ask for forgiveness one must first analyze their own motives and actions.

Many people deal with damaging experiences by attempting to suppress the memories related to the event and move on with their lives. Doing this causes the memories to resurface at random times and can result in panic attacks. Others withdrawal from society, become risk takers, or move to another place to attempt to start over.  Forgiveness is another method with which one can make peace with one’s past. Some argue that by allowing yourself to forgive the perpetrators you might forget what happened. When I think about this, the words of Holocaust survivor Michael Kor come to mind:

 “I have forgiven the Germans, but not the stockade, not the wires, not the shouting and the yelling…

I don’t want to see them again.”  (Forgiving Dr. Mengele).

In my opinion this means that although you may forgive the perpetrator you will never forget what they did to you and in some cases where they did it. This is especially true for those who have experienced events such as the Holocaust. The events involved can affect an individual’s life in such a way as to shape who they are. When such an event happens it can take a long time for the individual to come to terms with what happened. Sadly, Some never do.

Forgiveness can be a state of emotional enlightenment allowing the individual to unleash the pain associated with the event and help them to heal. I feel these powerful words of holocaust survivor Eva Kor express this best “Forgive your worst enemy, It will heal your soul and it will set you free” (“Forgiving Dr. Mengele”). In the documentary forgiving Dr. Mengele; Eva Kor discusses her journey to forgiving to Nazi’s in her name only, and how it allowed her to heal. In 1993, she met with the Nazi doctor Hans Munch to discuss Dr. Mengele records. Eventually she convinced him to sign a statement verifying the use of the gas chambers at Auschwitz, on the 50th anniversary of the liberation. Eva later decided that she would write Dr. Munch a letter forgiving him of the crimes he committed as a Nazi doctor. After doing this someone asked her if she would forgive Dr. Mengele, when she thought about this she decided to forgive all the Nazi’s. Forgiving Nazi’s gave her a feeling of power over the perpetrators and made her stronger. In order to forgive the Nazi’s, Eva said that she had to release the pain of those memories. This helped her to share her story with others.

Now we will look at the perpetrators and when they should ask for forgiveness. In order to ask for forgiveness one must first accept responsibility for their actions, admit they were wrong, and feel remorse. I feel the soldiers request for forgiveness from Simon Wiesenthal in his story The Sunflower, is hollow. Most likely he only wants forgiveness because he is dying and wants to have the burden of what he has done lifted from his shoulders. I feel that the reason he feels guilty is because he watched those people burn, I don’t believe he truly feels remorse for this act or that he was responsible for it, because he has killed and helped to kill many other people whose deaths he doesn’t seem to feel guilty for. The fact that he is even asking this of Simon shows that he just wants to hear the words and feel free. I find it appalling that he thinks he can just ask a random Jew to forgive his actions. On the other hand, if a person were to show true remorse for what they have done and sought atonement for their acts then they can ask for forgiveness. Deborah Lipstadt has this to say on the topic of forgiveness and atonement:

“Even if the prisoner had offered the soldier verbal forgiveness, that would not have resulted in an automatic cleansing of the slate. Such atonement would only have come when the guilty man had borne the consequences of his act and had demonstrated by his subsequent behavior that he had returned to that “place” he had occupied prior to committing his heinous crime (196).”

In other words, Someone can only truly be forgiven when they accept the punishment for their crime and never do it again. This does not mean that they should ask for forgiveness that depends on what they have done, as well as their own beliefs. However, whether forgiveness is granted depends solely on the individual there asking, and that individuals own opinions on forgiveness. I also believe that a person can only grant forgiveness on their own behalf for how the event affected them.

  Forgiving is an act of healing on the part of the forgiver. It allows the forgiver to release their pain. For the person seeking forgiveness it requires that they acknowledge their wrong doing and in some way redeem themselves in the eyes of the forgiver. One must always pay the price for their wrong doings.

Is it possible for one to forgive someone who has taken away someone or something very important to them?

I am of the Catholic religion, and in my religion I am supposed to always forgive people for what they have done wrong.  I still believe that all situations cannot be forgiven.  According to Harry Wu, who was imprisoned in a Chinese labor camp for nineteen years, he wouldn’t be able to forgive someone asking for forgiveness on their death bed, but would tell them that they were responsible for their own actions and for what they have done.  I agree with Harry’s opinion on forgiveness, because no matter what someone forces you to do, you always have a choice of whether to do or not. 

The Nazi soldier in Simon Wiesenthal’s book “The Sunflower” had a moral choice in if he really wanted to take part in mass murdering millions of innocent Jews during the Holocaust, whether he believed or not.  Trying to ask for Simon’s forgiveness was too large of a step.  I don’t blame Simon for not giving the soldier an answer, because personally I don’t think that I could have done it either. It is a different story when you are talking about trying to forgive someone who has just assisted others in the mass murdering of innocent people. 

If someone took my family away from me and killed every one of them I think I would hunt that person down and make sure that they got the punishment that they deserved.  I would not be able to forgive them even if they asked for forgiveness because I would never be able to move on with my life.  I would never be able to replace my family, and I would not be able to forget what happened to them and the memories I had of them.  Trying to imagine all of the scars that would be left behind in your memory and knowing that you could never get the ones that you loved back would force me into not forgiving them, even if I am supposed to according to my religious beliefs.

I believe that to forgive someone that you would have to forget about what happened or at least be able to move on and replace what you had lost.  Replacing a loved one that had been killed is impossible, but a simple item or something that you loved but is temporary, is possible to replace.  Trying to forgive a Nazi soldier would be unreal.  Knowing that they took something away from you that you could never get back, and knowing that it would be almost impossible to forget about what had happened in that horrific event.

I personally have some scenarios in which I would forgive and which I would not forgive.  Back when I was a sophomore in high school I was dating a guy that I dearly loved, and couldn’t imagine being without.  A few months into our relationship he fell for a different girl and broke up with me.  I was completely heartbroken, and couldn’t even begin to understand why he would do such a thing to me. 

The next week he called me and asked the strangest question, and I didn’t know how to respond when I heard it.  He asked me if I could forgive him for what he did to me, even though he knew it was wrong.  I just sat there silent on the other end of the line wondering what I should tell him back.  In my moment of thinking I realized that everything happens for a reason when it comes to relationships.  I decided that I could forgive him, even though he made me feel horrible and broke my heart in two.  I decided to grant his forgiveness because I knew that I was only fifteen years old and I had a whole life ahead of me to find someone else to be with, and that I would make it without him in my life.

These types of situations I would be able to forgive in because sooner or later I would be moved on and would look back thinking that it was a good choice that he broke up with me.  Any situations that would allow me to move on easily and forget what happened would be the situations that I would be able to forgive in.

In my life I have been through some things with my father and with other people that has made it very difficult for me to try to forgive them.  I am still not sure whether to forgive my father or not for what he did to me.  He put me through so much mental stress and pain that I am not sure how I kept going through it.  He has affected me so much that I struggle with a lot things as an adult.  He kept me away from having fun with friends and ever being involved with any types of school related activities.  He never allowed me to grow up and do normal things that growing kids did.  He mentally scarred me by telling me every day that I was worthless and I would never get anywhere in my life.  These types of mental scarring left me with the question of whether I should ever forgive my father or not.  To this day I am still not sure whether I should forgive him or not.

 In being in a situation like the one with my father, I try to think positively about everything good that may come in the future.  I try to put all of the mental scarring behind me and try to move on.  I think that going through this with him has only made me a stronger and more outgoing person when it comes to reaching my goals in life. It also gives me an urge to help my friends in dealing with the same types of situations because I know that I have gone through the same thing and realize how to deal with it.

Forgiveness is something that every person has a different view point on.  Some people may forgive and others may not forgive in certain scenarios.  I try to make myself forgive everyone because of my religion but I cannot always do so.  In my opinion I believe that I can forgive only if I can move on and forget.  If I cannot move on and get back what I had lost then I cannot forgive. Today in my life I just keep focusing on the future and try to put anything bad that has happened to me behind me, no matter if I could forgive or not.  I still wonder what, or if any situations will come up that I have to make a choice in whether to forgive or not forgive.