A reminder on strength of forgiveness

I enjoy the Herald, but it is not often that I have a conversion experience reading it.

I had something close to that today when I read Michael Gerson's column about the redemptive response of the members of the AME church in Charleston to the murder of nine of its members.

Gerson wrote (June 24) that when relatives of those cruelly murdered in Charleston publicly offered their forgiveness, "it was stunning and admirable in many ways." It was also a reminder to us that the only way forward for all of us in all our lives is through forgiveness.

So long as we seek retribution and revenge, we linger in the limbo of lost causes.

Once we face our suffering without the need to inflict more suffering on others, we can enter into the healing of the body politic and go forward "with malice toward none."

My gratitude to Michael Gerson and the Herald for this powerful reminder.

Margery Frisbie

Arlington Heights