Forgiving Dr. Mengele

If you haven't seen this movie, you should. It's about a Holocaust survivor who was forcibly part of Dr. Mengele's twins study whilst she was imprisoned at Auschwitz. Captivating for many reasons, none of them more obvious than the general idea of forgiveness.

Are we capable of it?
Should we assume ourselves reliable enough to truly evolve through it?
And can we use it as a force in our lives?
Moreover, what is the actual purpose of forgiveness in our lives?

I think this argument will forever hinge on the premise of whether or not one carries faith. So often it is faith or spirituality that calls us to forgive and it is forgiveness that often the forgiver is using to further his or her spiritual/faith growth. I know it is certainly the latter for me, I have to put certain pains down- wrongs done to me years before, that while they may not be impacting my day to day life, they do in essence affect my happiness, as they drain energy that otherwise could have been used to expand it.

I certainly don't forgive to make the forgivees life easier, although I hope it does. I believe we are good at the core of our beings, so it is my fundamental belief that I must want, in my heart, good for all people, at all times, even through anger and fear. I digress... I forgive because it lightens my load. Because I want to let things go, I want to move on, I don't want to give my thoughts to things that aren't worth them.

I think people need love, especially when they don't deserve it. Sometimes forgiveness can act as an inadvertant vehicle for self healing and spiritual therapy. At some point individually we have to walk away from things mentally and physically.

But as the main character of the movie, Eva Mozes Kor, points out, forgiveness isn't about walking away from anything, it's about walking away from the pain that a certain situation/person/instance has brought or continues to bring to the victim. She outlines that forgiveness has to do with what we do with our lives following trama. Eva, in my humble opinion, courageously wages that pain does not invite us to grow, it begs that we remain in it for it's own glory.

I'm out of time... more to come. Lazy mind trying to keep up with streaming thoughts.
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