You have to forgive, because you yourself, in your time, must be forgiven. And this isn't something that you can do automatically. You've got to earn the right to be forgiven, and one of the things is learning how to feel grateful – even for difficult things that have happened to you. I'm sure everybody goes through something like that – that process of spiritual discovery, where you recognise that you have been taking for granted things which you shouldn't have taken for granted. And other people might have seemed to be nasty to you when in fact it was your fault for not recognizing the difficulties and the sufferings that they had to put up with. [I realised that] only in a condition of mutual forgiveness is life worthwhile.
I think we should emphasize the very great virtues and achievements that we have built on our legacy of tolerance and show a willingness to criticize and amend all the vices to which it has also given undue space. We should resurrect Locke’s distinction between liberty and license and make it absolutely clear to our children that liberty is a form of order, not a license for anarchy and self-indulgence. We should cease to mock the things that mattered to our parents and grandparents, and we should be proud of what they achieved. This is not arrogance but a just recognition of our privileges.
More here.
No comments:
Post a Comment