graphic: Forgiveness: Breaking the Chain of Hate by Michael Henderson
It’s been a while since we’ve discussed forgiveness here, although this post,
“Do I believe in the forgiveness of sin?” and this one,
Remembering Karla are never far from me … especially when I consider what I’ve learned and observed about the toxic effects of ‘harbouring’ unforgiveness.
Last night I read of journalist/blogger/writer Andrew Sullivan’s need to distinguish between extending his own forgiveness to those who have hurt him personally through stumbles or failures, and the role his ‘mission’ as a public writer to, effectively, hold grudges. (It’s what I refer to here at The Paepae as ‘having an attention span’.)
Sullivan quotes a reader saying (read in context here)
Forgive, Andrew. Forgive. Either that or stop talking about faith, grace, mercy, the whole shooting match. Because it seems, in this instance, you don’t get it.
To which Sullivan says…
The trouble here is the distinction between public officials and their public acts and private human beings in your actual life who fail or stumble or hurt you. I truly do try and forgive those who have done me wrong (it isn’t always easy) in the warp and woof of living. But in assessing public affairs – like, say president Bush authorizing torture or backing the Federal Marriage Amendment – it seems to me to be a different case. As a public writer, it is my job to criticize, to judge when someone’s public statements in public office are defensible or wrong. I play a role as a blogger which requires me to be much tougher and harsher than in real life – when I am dealing with public figures, public statements and public records. I have met Bill Clinton only once. I am dealing with the public, not the private, man.
As I said, it’s worth reading the discussion in context at Sullivan’s website The Dish: Clinton and forgiveness. I rate this guy very highly. He’s one of my favourite writers and thinkers alive today, who happens to be a Catholic.
I agree with Andrew Sullivan that making public criticisms — of the sort that I blunder my way through here at The Paepae — sometimes thinking out loud, working out what I think as I go — is different from (or ‘different to’) the sort of let-it-go-for-your-own-good forgiveness I seek in my personal life.
Journalists, bloggers and other public writers* have a duty to their readers to not swallow the carefully-manicured talking points, photo-ops, and spin-driven agendas of those in public power.
That’s partly why I felt uneasy about news that emerged over the weekend about a cabinet minister’s staff sanitising Wikipedia. (Whoa!) The archivist in me (and the taxpayer) is offended by that behaviour, which, Justice minister Judith Collins, through a spokeswoman, has confirmed did take place.
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