I believe in God. I was born into christianity and I know no other life outside of my religion. Every night when I go to pray, I am supposed to pray for those who have done wrong to me, no matter how angry I am. Despite this religious belief, I have the hardest time forgiving others. It's hard to think how they have hurt me and try to walk away or to turn the other cheek. My religion believes in a sermon. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also..." Matthew 5:38-42. Being a teenager, I guess I will have to go through loads of drama, whether I want too or not. There is always going to be something she did to me or he said about me, but that's the thing. What good is it going to do for either of us by hurting each other? Even if I'm telling the world that people need to forgive, I know that I too need to forgive, even if it is the most difficult thing that I can do. Also, you don't have to be a big into society to make an impact. Just forgiving one of your friends can be the simplest step.
One current story that I know about forgiveness is about Fatmire Feka, who was separated from her brother and sister ten years ago in Kosovo. She founded the Kids Club For Peace, which helps kids to see past ethnicity issues that one might have. In an interview, she tells us how horrible it was for everyone during the war. The economy was horrible and houses were torched. She remembers children having to go through horrible traumatic experiences that she herself being a child had to go though. "I wanted peace because.... I had never had peace in my entire life" quoted by Fatmire Feka. I find this person to be quite amazing because even though her family was torn apart by war, she still found the integrity inside of her to help children with stories like hers to change their hearts about those who may have destroyed their lives.
Even in the past we've had people forgiving others and trying as hard as possible to forgive themselves. In 1930's during the start of Hitler's regime, Trudy, a Jew, had her father taken away and sent to a labour camp, however Trudy was able to escape on a boat to America. Weeks after weeks she would get letters from her father asking her to come save him. So by the time she had worked up enough money to bail out her father, she found it was too late. Decades later, she decides to share her father's letter's with her daughter. She was invited to a church organization in Austria for Holocaust survivors. They were coming together to help each other forgive what traumatic experiences that changed their lives forever. I find this so amazing that the Holocaust people are so forgiving. After what everyone has done to them and said about them, that they have the humility to forgive. Trudy was able to forgive those who had done horrible things to her, and she was also able to forgive herself for not saving her father. I think that the survivors are really amazing because they were able to forgive.
There are so many examples of people forgiving each other. So than why are there people going out there to murder, to steal, to lie, and so on? Even if there are good people out there who are so willing to forgive, doesn't mean that the others are willing to say they're sorry. I find it sad when people hate each other. That they aren't willing to humble themselves because they think that they're right. I wish we were more forgiving. In the past we've been able to forgive each other, in the current time we've also been able to forgive, so I hope in the future we are still able to forgive. I hope that we are all able to forgive each other because with forgiveness comes love.
Rachel, the message you want to pass on to your reader is very clear. You stayed on topic and wrote well developed paragraphs. I like how you related to your personal beliefs and made the blog post more personal than documentary. This gives the reader and idea of what YOU think should or shouldn't be happening. I think that if you wanted to make you post better you could add a picture of some sort that reflects what you take about in your post. You use many examples and support you claim thoroughly in each paragraph you have written and you transitions are smooth and connected. I really like how you gave more than 1 example and each from different time periods, showing that the value of forgiveness has gone thrived for many decades. I also like you ending sentence. 'I hope that we are all able to forgive each other because with forgiveness comes love.' Maybe you could continue on with you next blog post and write about love? Overall your blog post shows great time and effort has been put into it and I hope that you continue to write such well developed and creative blogs. Well done! :)
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