The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a concept that we all have to deal with at some point in our lives. Someone does something unfair to us and then apologises and asks for forgiveness. Do we forgive? Or maybe we do something bad and have to ask forgiveness from someone else that we've hurt.

Who do we forgive? When do we forgive? Sometimes it can be very difficult and painful to sort it all out.

You can find a very powerful story about forgiveness in the This I Believe radio series. Kim Phuc grew up in a small village in Vietnam during the Vietnam war in the 1960s and 1970s. One day when she was nine years old, a South Vietnamese bomber plane dropped napalm, which is a jelly gasoline, on her village as some of the enemy were nearby. Kim Phuc and many others were burned very badly and ran screaming from the village.

A Vietnamese news photographer took a photo of her running down the highway, naked. This photo was sent to American and European newspapers and became very famous, as it showed the horrors of war. It won the famous Pulitzer prize in 1972. It was one of many things that convinced many Americans that the war in Vietnam was not worth fighting. The war ended in 1975 when the American soldiers withdrew. But sadly, about 2 million Vietnamese and 58,000 American soldiers had already died.

In the photo above, you can see Kim Phuc, who is naked, running from her village. She had been very badly burned and ripped her burning clothes off. Her brother is in the front left.

But what became of Kim Phuc? Well, you can read and listen to her story here.

http://www.cbc.ca/thisibelieve/essays/may25_Kim_Phuc.html

Take some time to listen to it and read it. What are your thoughts about forgiveness? What are your experiences? It is a very thought-provoking subject. Maybe we can talk about it in class sometime, or you can write an article for the blog.

Kim Phuc worked for many years as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO. She also started a charity to help children who are victims of war.

There are many interesting articles about Kim Phuc's story on the Internet.

In one, the photographer who took the photo tells what happened that day. You can also listen to him speak the story on this website -- in English!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4517597.stm

Here is another one.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2000/06/29/kim.2.t.php

I hope you enjoy these articles. Sometimes it is good to think about the values that guide our daily lives. As Socrates, the famous ancient Greek philosopher, said: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Just be sure to think in English! :-)