{"id":936,"date":"2015-12-15T20:57:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T01:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joshuastairhime.com\/?p=936"},"modified":"2018-12-04T22:41:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T03:41:42","slug":"forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.joshuastairhime.com\/index.php\/forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgiveness (DOP #15 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 7th<\/sup> is one of those dates that I don\u2019t easily pass over.\u00a0 I have no real personal connection to it, but I know that our country was suddenly and deliberately attacked on that day 74 years ago.\u00a0 It lead to our involvement in World War II.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do much to commemorate that day specifically, but it is a yearly reminder of what the costs of war are.\u00a0 It is December 15th<\/sup>, so why bring this up?<\/p>\n

I was really shocked by the amount of people who were posting about Pearl Harbor this year.\u00a0 I saw it all over the various news feeds I skim daily.\u00a0 Everywhere people were posting about it, saying things like \u201cNever Forget\u201d.\u00a0 Since I notice the day every year, I can clearly remember that there have never been this many people posting something about it.\u00a0 I wondered if my friends list had changed significantly, but I don\u2019t think it really has. I haven\u2019t been on a patriotic friend recruiting frenzy. It was so surprising a change that in the back of my mind I\u2019ve been questioning the sudden interest all week.<\/p>\n

In a flash of insight last night I think I struck on an answer.<\/p>\n

I think that we as a nation have forgotten how to forgive.<\/p>\n

It hurts to be attacked.\u00a0 It seems far worse when it is a surprise.\u00a0 Whether we were attacked by Japan more than 70 years ago or by terrorists in the last 15 years, we are shocked by the gruesome realities of war.\u00a0 It never gets easier.\u00a0 As a nation we remember the pain forever.\u00a0 Remember the Alamo, remember the Maine, remember Pearl Harbor, remember 9\/11\u2026the list goes on and on.\u00a0 And we should remember, because these events are catastrophic and we want to do everything in our power to avoid them.\u00a0 We want to honor the sacrifices of the brave people who died that day.\u00a0 We should never forget the people who ran towards death in hopes that they could help someone else.\u00a0 We should never forget the lives of those who had so much more to offer.<\/p>\n

At the same time, we must forgive.\u00a0 We can not hold what happened 70 years ago against Japan forever.\u00a0 We can not hold on to the desire for revenge any more.\u00a0 Revenge has such bitter fruit when it is harvested.\u00a0 During Pearl Harbor more than 2500 brave lives were lost, most of that number were soldiers.\u00a0 These are terrible numbers, but they pale in comparison to the end results.\u00a0 At the end of World War II, nearly 500,000 American lives had been lost.\u00a0 Of that number, 12,000+ were civilians.<\/p>\n

Am I suggesting that those lives could have been saved by refusing to enter the war?\u00a0 \u00a0I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I can\u2019t know.\u00a0 No one can really know what would have been if we had chosen another course of action.<\/p>\n

In one fateful day in December, thousands of lives were lost.\u00a0 One fateful day in August of 1945, it is estimated that more than 70,000 were killed.\u00a0 3 days later, at least another 40,000 lost their lives.\u00a0 2 bombs dropped on civilian cities in Japan.\u00a0 With no warning. \u00a0The costs were incredible.<\/p>\n

This is where war leads.\u00a0 To escalation.\u00a0 To staggering costs.<\/p>\n

This is where unforgiveness can lead.\u00a0 To war.\u00a0 To a staggering cost.<\/p>\n

I know that we were attacked by terrorists 15 years ago.\u00a0 It happened, and the costs were high.\u00a0 The costs for our enemies were even higher.\u00a0 It is estimated that at least 26,000 civilians were killed in the time we were in Afghanistan (many of them killed by their own people).<\/p>\n

If we are ever going to find peace, we must defend ourselves against attack, but not pursue revenge.\u00a0 We must seek reconciliation and forgiveness.\u00a0 This cycle of violence will never stop otherwise.<\/p>\n

It seems too simple, and too impossible.<\/p>\n

Can we ever find peace?
\nJapan and the United States have found common ground, and have committed to an alliance together.\u00a0 This would be impossible without forgiveness.<\/p>\n

(Disclaimer, this is a DRAMATIC oversimplification of incredibly complicated conflicts.\u00a0 We could argue all night about the choices made by all sides in any war.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to get bogged down in who was less evil.\u00a0 Essentially that is all the argument could have hoped to be.\u00a0 I also want to state that in no way am I passing judgement on those who have fought in any conflict, I simply want us to find a better way out in the future.\u00a0 Maybe there is no better way, but I hope we are at least willing to try.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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