The Healing Power of Forgiveness

The South African leadership continues to astonish the world with its stubborn insistence on reconciliation and forgiveness - and that is a rare example in a world where many are determined to exact vicious revenge onto those who once oppressed them.

This week the president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki attended the funeral of one of the most vicious leaders of Apartheid who, even after his racist regime had fallen, refused to take part in national reconciliation. Well, in death, the black leaders of South Africa offered him a state funeral to bid him farewell.

Now if only others in distant places like Iraq, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Kashmir can learn half of the lesson the likes of Nelson Mandela are trying to teach, the world would be so much better for it.