"I decided I had to do something to save this person’s life. That killing someone in Dallas is not an answer for what happened on Sept. 11." Rais Bhuiyan petitions the state of Texas to stay the execution of a white supremacist who shot him and murdered two others in a hate-motivated crime.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Jul 18, 2011 - 87 comments

A mother talks with the man who murdered her son, for Storycorps. [more inside]
posted by empath on May 20, 2011 - 17 comments

Forgive and Forget? "Rwanda's warring population has a lot to account for, and a lot to reconcile. Can science point the way to understanding?"
posted by homunculus on Jul 20, 2009 - 5 comments

"I believe with every fibre of my being that every human being has the right to live without the pain of the past". An amazing collection of personal stories, reflecting diverse attitudes to forgiveness and reconciliation, hosted by The Forgiveness Project.
posted by teleskiving on Jan 21, 2008 - 12 comments

"My first day on the job was the Amish school shooting at Nickel Mines in Lancaster County, Pa. in October of 2006. Here is some video of what I saw that day." Raw footage from that terrible day, recently posted to YouTube. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan on Oct 7, 2007 - 28 comments

Bush's Mistake and Kennedy's Error. What happens when someone says, "I was wrong"?
posted by Eekacat on Apr 24, 2007 - 14 comments

Redemption and the Power of Man. In Christianity, redemption is essentially an act of divine grace, the salvation of a sinful humanity that is incapable of saving itself. In Judaism redemption depends entirely on man, who is responsible for his own fate. To what extent did Judaism influence the development of progressive, pluralistic democracy?
posted by semmi on Sep 22, 2004 - 30 comments

May auld grievance be forgot: "I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you in 10 years," Mark Pilgrim wrote today to fellow weblogger Eric Soroos. "I forgive you. Please forgive me."
posted by rcade on Jan 1, 2002 - 10 comments

Families forgive driver who caused death of children Can death-penalty advocates bring themselves to this level of forgiveness? “The parents of four of the five victims of Sunday’s tragedy at Lingwick have asked authorities to withdraw charges filed Monday against Steve Rousseau, 21, the driver of a car that plunged into a quarry.... ‘We forgive Steve Rousseau and we’d like the charges against him lifted. He already feels a great deal of pain over what happened, which was an accident. He’s a little guy who has already been devastated by the burden placed on him. We don’t want to make matters worse,’ says Christian Morin, father of Marie-France. ‘We have no grievance with him.’ ” The Crown will prosecute anyway. (Also second article. All in French.)
posted by joeclark on Jun 12, 2001 - 15 comments