A Lesson in Forgiveness

By Don Searles

History provides a good lesson in forgiveness.  Near the end of World War 1, United States President Woodrow Wilson, developed a 14 point plan for the rebuilding of Europe and lasting peace.  The plan had no provisions for revenge and provided reconciliation between our allies Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and our enemies, which were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.  However, during the war, France had lost 1.3 million people, 750,000 homes, and 23,000 factories were destroyed.  France was angry and wanted revenge from Germany.  They called it reparations. 

At the insistence of France, the Versailles treaty that Germany was forced to sign only contained a few of the points in President Wilson’s 14 point plan.  The treaty required Germany to pay for the damages of the war, and took land away from Germany as well as other revengeful clauses.  Germany was devastated by the war, and the treaty put additional hardships on the German people.  The reparations, [revenge], caused an economic catastrophe in Germany with very high unemployment, lack of food and other hardships.

The German people became angry as they thought the revenge was too harsh.  The anger of the Germans resulted in the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party.  The rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, along with the German people’s anger for the revenge being perpetuated on them, resulted in World War 2.  During World War 2, 72,000,000 people lost their lives.  Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, and most of Europe were destroyed. 

It was now clear to the world that revenge did not work and if the world again wanted revenge from Germany and now Japan, it would cause more anger, more hardship, and more wars.  

You see, an eye for an eye only leads to more anger, more revenge, and more killing.  The cycle never ends.

The United States developed a plan called, The Marshall Plan, which basically forgave Germany and Japan for the atrocities of the war and provided billions of dollars to rebuild these countries.  The Marshall plan, worked and in a few years, Germany, Japan, and the other countries that were involved in the war, were rebuilt and the people of Germany and Japan were forgiven.  The results are that the world has not had another major war in the past 63 years, and Germany and Japan are our close allies and trading partners.

What does this mean to you and me?  It means that revenge does not work.  It means that the only road is forgiveness.