International Forgiveness Day is scheduled for the first Sunday of August, which was August 5th this year. In 2006 it had official celebrations in 7 countries on five different continents, including eleven locations across the United States. They choose to recognize Heroes of Forgiveness, people who have shown near superhuman courage in letting go of wrongs done to them. One such person is Michael Berg, whose son was decapitated on television by terrorist leaders in Afghanistan. I had seen the initial story in the news, but I hadn't seen the follow-up that I found through Forgiveness day.
Michael Berg was devastated when his son, Nicholas, was beheaded on videotape by terrorist leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. So when Zarqawi was killed by U.S. military forces in Iraq, people expected Michael to celebrate his death. His reaction surprised many when he told the world that he mourns the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as he would the death of any man. Berg stated, “He has a family who are reacting just as my family reacted when Nick was killed, and I feel bad for that.” When interviewed recently on CNN, news anchor Soledad O’Brien expressed surprise at his reaction. His reply was, “Well, you shouldn't be surprised, because I have never indicated anything but forgiveness and peace in any interview on the air.”That is truly amazing. How many times have we held grudges for things like money or people holding you up at a traffic light or anything else insignificant compared to what Michael went through? We could all learn from the example of people like this.
And here's a Youtube video about International Forgiveness Day!
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