I was greatly privileged to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which assisted our relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. While we were frequently devastated by revelations of the gruesome atrocities perpetrated during those apartheid years, we were equally exhilarated by the magnanimity of the victims in their willingness to forgive their tormentors.Mrs. Betty Savage, a white South African, related how, one year, she and others had held a Christmas party at their golf club in Kingwilliamstown in the Eastern Cape. Whilst there, the clubhouse was attacked with hand grenades by one of the black liberation movements. Several of the guests were killed. Mrs. Savage suffered serious injuries that landed her in the ICU for several months. When she was discharged, she still had shrapnel in her body. She could not bathe, clothe, or feed herself. Her children had to help her do these things.
Amazingly, she said of the incident that had left her in this condition, “It has enriched my life.” She continued, “I would like to meet the perpetrator in a spirit of forgiveness. I would like to forgive him,” and then she added, “and I hope he forgives me.”
We should not really be surprised, for Mrs. Savage was created (as are all of us) in the image of the forgiving God – the God who forgave David his adultery, the God who forgave the persecutor Saul.
O God, make us who we are, those created in your image,
You the merciful, the forgiving One. Amen.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. www.tutufoundation-usa.org
