Last week, a student who snuck into a locked building with his friends fell from the roof of the building and died. This tragedy occurred at U.Va., my alma mater. The young man’s parents (Tom and Vicki) have modeled FORGIVENESS. Check out this dean’s observation of the parents: “Tom wasn’t focused on himself or even Tommy. He was focused on the students in the room; they had been with Tommy when he fell to his death, or else saw him in his last hour. They are in no way responsible for this accident, he said, and they must not let it, cruel and inexplicable as it is, compromise the innocence and joys of their days at college. As the students sobbed, Tom and Vicki comforted them; and in their compassion for other people’s children, they seemed to have forgotten, if momentarily, the immensity of the catastrophe that had just befallen them.” Full text is here.
What are your thoughts on forgiveness?
