Forgiveness is the only way forward

 The Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is laid to rest in Cape Town, South Africa. I would like to express a short tribute to the Archbishop, a true hero, and a true leader. It was when I was studying theology I was motivated to learn about and from this true hero. His ever-living legacy can help us to be true leaders. In his book, ‘No Future without Forgiveness’, Archbishop argues that we would not know how to be a human being at all, except we learn this from other human beings. We are bound together in what the Bible calls ‘the bundle of life. Our humanity is caught up in that of all others. We are human because we belong. We are made for community, for togetherness, for family, to exist is a delicate network of interdependence for no one can be human alone. Archbishop was key instrumental in an unprecedented attempt at healing a nation when he was named Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by President Nelson Mandela. He succeeded to heal a wounded nation through forgiveness. For him, there is no humanity without forgiveness and forgiveness is possible only through peaceful coexistence. He upheld social harmony, friendliness as the great goods of which social harmony is the summum bonum – the greatest good. The teaching of Jesus, ‘to love your enemies’ is personified in the Archbishop, for he expressed, ‘if you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends but talk to your enemies’. He walked the talk and was hailed as a humble true leader, in other words, he was a true servant leader. 

Forgiveness is not forgetting but remembering - remembering not to hit back but to pave a path towards forgiveness. Forgiveness is innate to human beings but hatred is also innate to human beings. It is important to make forgiveness our way of life so that hatred can be overwhelmed by forgiveness. Every religion teaches forgiveness and no religion teaches hatred but for self-interest, hatred becomes a way of life. The world might teach us to hatred but humanity teaches us to forgive. "Eye for eye will leave the people of the world without any eyes". If forgiveness did not exist, humanity would have become extinct. Forgiveness is a way of life in our own families when our children make mistakes, we forgive them but could we not follow the way of life with everyone around us. Archbishop through his life and teachings insisted that people need humanity more than anything in these times. 

As former President of USA, Obama called, Archbishop was a true ‘moral compass’ to everyone around the world especially to leaders and aspiring to be leaders. Archbishop expressed that ‘God’s dream is that all of us will realize that we are family that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.’ Although our world is a beautiful place, we have certain elements of evil and hatred that permeate our society for the selfish motives of the wicked few. These wicked few continue to sow the seeds of hatred so that their agenda is fulfilled at all costs. We need leaders like Archbishop Tutu to recognize and uproot these elements of hatred not through hatred but through dialogue and inclusion. This is the only way forward to a better world if not our world will have more hatred than good because hatred multiplies and leads to more hatred. Leaders in our society such as government leaders, CEOs, managers, and religious leaders must take examples from the Archbishop and embrace his life and teachings.