Bridges of Forgiveness to the Future 

What is the real “road map” to the future? Renewed violence in Israel causes us to wonder if that nation will ever escape the cycle of violence that ebbs and flows as it has for decades, centuries, and even millennia! Is there a better future ahead? Continued disruption and instability in Iraq cloud the future in that country as well. But the uncertainty extends beyond the Middle East. As I write, Indonesia is off-limits for Americans. Politics in Kenya prevent Greenville students from studying there. They may also not be able to visit Zimbabwe this fall during our program in Mozambique. This week Zimbabwe topped the world chart for inflation and human rights abuses mount. The list can be extended to Rwanda, Ireland, Afghanistan and beyond. 

At the heart of most of this uncertainty is distrust. Prime Minister Sharon distrusts Prime Minister Abbas and President Arafat. Abbas distrusts Sharon and perhaps Arafat too. President Bush distrusts Arafat. In Zimbabwe MDC opposition leader Tsvangarai distrusts President Mugabe and vice-versa. In Indonesia President Megawati distrusts the GAM leadership in Aceh. In Afghanistan, warlords distrust President Karzai. In our own communities, we do not trust one another.

Distrust does not automatically arise from large differences of opinion. More often it arises when people choose to assume the worst about one another. Small choices that go unchecked then accumulate almost unnoticed. The accumulation goes on until they erode the natural bridges of communication that would otherwise bear the “traffic” of normal disagreements. Eventually the gaps grow so large they seem impossible to bridge. The shape of the future depends on this commerce and that in turn on trust. It is so much easier to destroy these bridges than to rebuild them. Trust built over years can be shattered in a moment of betrayal and the future is changed.

Trust can be restored only by deliberate choices pursued persistently over a long time to rebuild the bridges of communication. And it begins in forgiveness.

In 1999 Bishop Desmond Tutu, retired Archbishop of Capetown, South Africa, and 1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, wrote of this painful process in his book, No Future Without Forgiveness. He documents the amazing story of how a nation that for hundreds of years had labored under the horror of racial distrust found a future through forgiveness. Good people had chosen to assume the worst. Yet through the miraculous persistence of its leaders, and their courage to offer forgiveness, bridges of trust are being rebuilt, and the road to the future is open.

One key was the creation of an unlikely institution; The Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Chartered outside any judicial framework, it was empowered to hear the truth, recommend amnesty to even the worst perpetrators of apartheid, and through that forgiveness, provide the foundations for new bridges of trust and reconciliation. What a remarkable alternative to both Nuremburg and national amnesia! If forgiveness can emerge from the rubble of such long-seated hatred, there is hope for the future elsewhere; Afghanistan, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Ireland, the Middle East and perhaps even within our own hearts.

As members of Christian communities, we do not engage in overt tactics of oppression or violence. And as educators we instruct those in our care in the theories of truth and reconciliation. Yet how often do we destroy bridges of trust by assuming the worst about one another?

“Reconciliation is at the heart of the universe.” (Tutu p267) Through Christ all things are reconciled to the Father. And Jesus forgave even before we confessed. Were confession prerequisite to forgiveness, we would all be victims trapped by the hard-heartedness of those who assume the worst. May those meek and oppressed in South Africa inspire us! Let us follow our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us take the lead. Let us go ahead of our students, ahead of our fellow church members, ahead of our community. Let us make the courageous decisions to speak and hear the truth among ourselves. Let us take the initiative in forgiveness. Let us thereby model for our students and for our communities how to patiently build bridges of trust that produce reconciliation. By this we will offer a roadmap for the future. There is a future because there is forgiveness.