Forgiveness . . .

"I don't know what [his] final moments were like, but I can't worry about it," Demetrius' mother Phyllis Ferguson told ABC News in an exclusive interview. "You have to accept things done and move on." The parents of Ohio school shooting victim Demetrius Hewlin said today they forgive suspected gunman T.J. Lane for shooting their son, noting sadly that Demetrius was often late for school but not late enough that day. When asked what she would say to the suspected shooter, Ferguson said, "I would tell him I forgive him because, a lot of times, they don't know what they're doing. That's all I'd say."
"I taught Demetrius not to live in the past, to live in today and forgiveness is divine. You have to forgive everything. God's grace is new each and every day," she said. "Until you've walked in another person's shoes, you don't know what made him come to this point."
When I grow up, I want to be like Phyllis Ferguson. To be able to forgive someone who has taken the life of your child for no reason at all and not immediately lash out with violent vengeance and no remorse is beyond pedestrian comprehension. There is some serious love emanating from this soul. What a joy it must have been to be her son and grow up with that love.
There's a line from a West Wing episode - The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels. While I watch the numerous posts of today's loss of singer Davy Jones from The Monkies, I wonder where the RIPs are for the children gunned down at yet another school or the people who lost their lives to the storms in the night or the nameless, faceless, hundreds who, for no cause of their own will die each day.
We say we are a Christian country, yet we stand idly by while profiteers poison our food and pollute our waters and air and destroy our planet. What is so Christian about lying about others for personal gain? I thought one of the 10 Commandments was not to bear false witness against your neighbor. Does that not include political oponents? Of yeah, and the one about committing adultery - multiple times? And what about being your brother's keeper or turning the other cheek or extending a helping hand to those in need? Are immigrants not in need? Are dug addicts not in need? Are prositutes not in need? Are people unemployed not in need? Are people losing their homes not in need?
We can't expect people in other countries to follow their good books and live a pious life if we can't lead by example, can we? I have yet to read every religious epistle or gospel or beatitude for every religion, but I would wager that each is filled good versus evil and the the preference being good.
Walked in his shoes - Phyllis Ferguson actually wondered to herself what this other child could possibly have gone through in his short time on earth to cause such devastation. She found the love inside to empathize with the killer of her son. Phyllis Ferguson - that's who I want to be like when I grow up.


Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .