> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Dan Minette
[snip]
> > > But, speaking of forgiveness now is highly inappropriate.
> >
> > You brought it up, not me. I spoke of not losing hope for peace and
> > reconciliation, even as we hold terrorists accountable for
> their actions.
> >
>
> Well, remember forgiveness comes in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for
> Catholics...yea I'm a Presbyterian Elder, but I'm a Catholic too. So,
> immediately, when I saw reconciliation, I saw the need for
> forgiveness as a
> step in reconciliation. Maybe we use the words differently.
I realize the difference now. I'm concerned that we will take actions in
anger that will close the door to reconciliation for a very, very long time.
It's not that I imagine for a moment that reconciliation is possible
immediately. When I said to Gautam, "Then you will never know peace," it
was because I saw his words as closing that door. Now that I look at those
words, they're probably wrong, metaphorically. The door isn't open now;
reconciliation is not possible, if only because no one is owning up to
responsibility.
I guess what I should be saying is something more along these lines: let us
not do things today in anger that will make eventual reconciliation with
other nations and cultures even harder that it already is. I would count
chief among them the conscious abandonment of mercy and justice ("God have
mercy on you, America won't," as a sign over a freeway here said), the
illusion that we might be able to rid the world of evil-doers and the
self-righteousness that demands "if they don't like the United States, that
is their problem."
Nick
