What does Forgiveness Bring Us?

What does forgiveness actually do to the people who practice it — and what does real transformation look like when it happens? In this episode, we move past the question of why forgiveness is hard and into the territory of what it produces. We look at Simon Wiesenthal's famous decision not to forgive a dying SS soldier — a choice that still holds up — and use it to set the scale for what forgiveness can and can't do. Then we spend time with the story of Hector Black, an elderly Tennessee man whose daughter was murdered, and who ended up in a years-long correspondence with her killer — sending Christmas packages, exchanging letters about ordinary days, building something that neither of them fully understood. His story is the opposite of the tidy, therapeutic version of forgiveness that culture tends to offer: it's strange, slow, and bewildering, which is exactly what makes it credible. If you've ever wondered whether forgiveness is something that happens to you or something you decide — or whether it's possible to let go without pretending the harm didn't matter — this episode is for you.

John Martin - Christ Healing the Palsied Man - Yale Center for British Art