Crime and Forgiveness

The expression 'Crime and Punishment' is so deeply embedded in our psyche, that we can associate 'crime', major or minor, only with 'punishment'. It is all the more so, because of Dostoevsky's classic novel, 'Crime and Punishment', having made such an impact on our minds. It was thus a very refreshing and a welcome change, when last week, the Indian newspapers headlined stories with - 'Crime and Forgiveness'! In a nutshell, India's very young, dynamic and very promising Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi was killed in 1991, at the age of 46, by a woman suicide bomber. She was an active member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a violent guerrilla group fighting for a separate homeland for Tamils on the island of Sri Lanka. For the life of us, we just could not imagine why LTTE or any individual would have wanted to cut short life of such a young man. An enquiry commission dragged and dragged the proceedings and finally a conspiracy emerged. One of the key conspirators, a woman Nalini, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In a very bold and unprecedented move, which took the nation by surprise, Rajiv Gandhi's very charismatic daughter, Priyanka, decided to go to the prison cell and meet the conspirator, Nalini. 'I want to know, why they killed my father. He was such a good man!' said Priyanka. Finally, the afflicted and the accused met in the high security prison. We do not know, what transpired between them. Priyanka came out, saying 'I have forgiven them!' Nalini is reported to have said, that she also cried and felt absolved of her sins. Such acts of Forgiveness are too infrequent in recent times. For a start, all of us learnt in school the adage, 'To err is human, to forgive is divine'. We also know what Jesus said on the cross, '"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do".

Now coming again to recent times, it is worth reading Nelson Mandela's book: 'Long Walk to Freedom'. As a fiery fighter against apartheid in South Africa, he was arrested in 1964 and sentenced to solitary confinement in the notorious prison on Robbin Island. A prison like Alcatraz! In the solitude of his prison cell, he read the works of Mahatma Gandhi. Gradually he started mulling over the moral superiority and victory of non-violence, over the long haul. Concurrently, something was stirring among the white supremacists of South Africa. In 1990, President de Klerk decided to dismantle the apartheid regime. He was wise enough to see the writing on the wall, and like a true statesman he did the unthinkable. This not only put his political career at risk, but also put his life was in danger, from his very own whites.

De Klerk, further released Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. Mandela had been imprisoned for 27 years, in the prime of his youth. Milling and cheering crowds were jubilantly awaiting the arrival of their hero. Mandela was full of hatred and venom against the whites, who had taken away the prime of his youth. He decided to give a rabble-rousing speech denouncing the whites, for what they had done to him and his people. With every step forward, he was also recalling Gandhi's message of - 'Hate the deed and not the doer'! He thought to himself, 'They have kept me in prison for 27 years. If I continue to hate them, I will be their prisoner for the rest of my life! It is not the right thing to do.' When that final moment came, Mandela gave a message of reconciliation, to his black suffering followers. The best of De Klerk and the best Nelson Mandela had surfaced, for the good of their embittered country! A new era of reconciliation for South Africa had been rung, in. thanks to the spirit of 'Forgiveness'.

The Dalai Lama is also such man of 'Forgiveness', in spite of all the provocation from the oppressive Chinese regime. I am sure, that in the end the Tibetans will prevail, against the evil and brutal suppression by the Chinese. This being so, today a news item caught my eye: A Gallup poll found that 94% of Americans thought that it was important to forgive, but 85% said, that they needed outside help to be able to forgive. Not bad at all!

This leaves us with food for thought on the subject of forgiveness from minds, greater than ours:

- 'Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much' - Oscar Wilde

- 'To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you!' - Lewis Smedes

- 'People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong, than for being right.' - JK Rowling