It is Difficult to Forgive

It is Difficult to ForgiveSometimes clemency can be difficult. It is non always easy to release soul for doing some amour wrong. There may be times where the transgression is so unadulterated that it causes a individual to calculate differently well-nigh individual, never organism able to draw a blank what they did to them. The Sunflower is a book about the possibilities and limits of amnesty. Simon Wiesenthal, a Jewish pris one and only(a)r, is c any(prenominal)ed to the bedside of a death Nazi soldier and is faced with the predicament of being asked for forbearance for the soldiers atrocious atrocities he had committed during the war. The Jewish son is unsure of what he should do or say. As he sits by the dying man listening to his story and cheering him for his last hardly a(prenominal) minutes on Earth, he can non bring himself to respond in any way. The boy sits in silence and does not grant nor deny the dying Nazis request for mildness.There are many legal injury for being conceden. one(a) cannot exclusively go through life doing whatever they please to anyone and expecting an vindication will suffice afterwards. One cannot, and should not, go around happily cleanup spot and torturing and then, when the moment has come, simply ask, and receive, exculpateness, says Herbert Mercuse (Mercuse 208). A person may pique someone and feel guilty about it and then seek forgiveness from the person so that they may be on good terms with each former(a) again after. Usually, after a transgression has occurred, the person who has been wronged may be upset or angry. They may not be able to cite forgiveness decently outdoor(a). The perpetrator must reward their need for time and understand that what they return done offended them. The recognition, if secret code else, is an important first step, says Sven Alkalaj (Alkalaj 103).Forgiveness cannot just be requested from anyone. In order for someone to give forgiveness they need to be obs cure in the actions committed by the individual. If someone greatly offends you and then asks other person for forgiveness and they say yes does that really mean they are forgiven for their actions? Simon was not able to forgive this man on behalf of the victims who were so maliciously kill. Alan L. Berger says, I may forgive one who has sinned against me. I may not forgive one who has taken the life of some other, (Berger 118). Does Simon really think that if he could thot on the dead victims that they would want to offer this man forgiveness? Absolutely not. The final solution itself was a massive massacre. Literally millions of innocent people were brutally murdered just for not meeting the requirements of the perfect race. Anyone and everyone involved besides the victims do not deserve any forgiveness for such a horrible event. Even Franklin H. Littell says that, The problem of the dying perpetrator was the fact that the only sympathetic persons who could pay off forgive n him were dead (Littell 197). Families and children were murdered in front of one another for no reason. How can a monster be given forgiveness for these actions even on his death bed?A misconception about forgiveness comes when it is confused with condoning or pardoning the offensive behavior. Forgiveness is not the same thing as forgetting, condoning, or pardoning. In todays modern times it seems that the typical behavior is to forgive and forget. Just because we forgive does not mean that we do not seek justice, speak out against the offender, or seek restitution. These things are all distinct from the act of forgiveness. The dying soldier may have really been sorry for the things he had done. He may have actually deserve the chance to be forgiven, provided even then the things he did would not just disappear.The crimes committed by this dying soldier and all the other soldiers are not simply something that can go away upon forgiveness. The solider want forgiveness was lucky to be dying before facing any real consequences of his actions. What these men were doing was extremely illegal and morally wrong. There is no way to replace a little boys murdered parents and siblings. After the Holocaust, trials were held to censure the men responsible for these atrocities. Most of the men who were convicted were sentenced to death. The law offers no forgiveness. other common misconception about forgiveness is that it makes the offended seem weak by accepting an apology and simply forgiving. It is never easy to forgive someone who has wronged you in some way. It is especially hard to forgive someone if what they have done has extremely hurt you emotionally and even physically in this case.There are many other people who actually think that the soldier could have deserved forgiveness (Wells). He could have been truly sorry for his actions. Some of the Holocaust survivors choose to forgive the soldiers that did these things because otherwise they would be angry a nd vengeful. They realize they were put through horrible unnecessary torture, but they need to move on with their lives in order to achieve a healthy life. Just as a victim of any other type of attack needs to often go to therapy sessions to try and get the best that obstacle in their life. It is all about allowing time to heal the wounds since the event. It is practice to be upset for to a greater extent(prenominal) than a day for some things.Eva Fleischner talks about how the dying Nazi soldier is actually unruffled at fault with his attempt at seeking forgiveness. The dying man simply wants any Jew to come to his bedside to listen to his plea. Yet, the man is oblivious to the ongoing painful sensation and suffering of the Jews even after this mans passing. Viewing Simon as a deputy of his people, he seeks to absolve himself and ease his insistent conscience through confessing and expressing his rue to him. He begs for a chemical reaction, for confirmation that his remors e is accepted. He desperately awaits the comforting words that might provide him a peaceful death. Simon, torn and confused, himself sboulder clay captive in a living hell manned by this mans comrades, holds his silence. That silence will forever trouble him, tugging at his conscience till his last day. This dying man represents each and every one of the murdering Nazi soldiers. Even after he is dead there will stick to be more deaths of Jews. Fleischner considers the possibility that if maybe the dying man would have summoned another Nazi guard, that he could have given a more genuine apology (Fleischner 143).Another thing that is sometimes thought about forgiveness that is not true is the idea that refusing to forgive is a registration way to punish the offender. In the story the dying soldier do a deathbed wish to confess his crimes to a Jew and to have that person forgive him. Some people believe that forgiving him would have given him barely what he wanted. And withholding that forgiveness would have punished him, quite justly, for his grievous acts. I do not think that this was Simons intentions at all. He did not have any thought of trying to punish the soldier more than the anguish he was already in. More often than not, it is the one who refuses to forgive who suffers more. In this case that is true. Because of Simons own silence he is devastated of whether or not he made the right choice.The act of forgiving is something that we carry with us throughout our entire lives. The fact that we do not truly forget what has happened once we forgive means that there will always be the thought of that event in the back of our minds. If a sibling hurts you, but then apologizes, each time you see them there will be that memory and you will silently forgive them again for their regretful actions. This happens with everything that you offer forgiveness for. It would not make sense to forgive someone and then when you think of the event you get upset. In that c ase, that would mean that your forgiveness was not truly meant and you still resented them for doing what they did.Simon is still haunted by this experience geezerhood after it occurred. He ponders whether or not he made the right decision. He truly felt that this dying mans apology was sincere, and that he may have been truly resentful for his sins. Still Simon remained silent and offered no balancing to this man. He held his hand through the whole story and even swatted away flies that bothered the dying soldier. It was simply not his position to be able to offer forgiveness for this mans sins. Since the victims are dead, God is the only one who can offer him any peace of mind. Simon cannot offer a response that might not be what the victims would want. I am sure the victims would practically rather have been alive then cruelly murdered. Forgiveness is not for the weak or timid. It is not the same as condoning a behavior. deny forgiveness leads to more suffering for us than th e offender, and the practice of forgiveness is not a one-shot deal it is a life-long discipline.