Gene's Blog

Steve on forgiveness

Okay, honestly, I have a post in draft I began last Friday night, on government, got distracted, had a busy weekend and never got back to it and last night was taken up with other matters, life intruding on life, you know? And, now, I am in the beginning stages of a cold I am quite sure I caught from a woman on the bus last week whom I had the misfortune to sit next to on my ride home, she was quite discrete but I remember thinking, “dang”. I am SO careful in the winter especially about what surfaces I touch and how I touch them and I rarely get a winter cold, haven’t been sick in quite some time but I had a restless night, usually the first sign, and woke with just the tiniest of sore throats, the kind that often disappear during the day? Only this one didn’t, it has continued to, ummm, warm up. And so now have other parts of me, the little achy stuff is coming on. I found in a drawer a few Contac pills, which expire 3/08, how serendipitous is that? You can’t even buy those anymore, people make them into meth, that wonderful drug that took my youngest son from me, is also the main ingredient in the most effective cold remedy I’ve ever used. I could handle any cold with a handful of Contact Severe Cold pills. So I will do the best I can with what I can find, but I suspect most of the next few days will be on the couch when I’m not at work, so, anyway, I am going to leave the post on Government in draft for now, and tonight, just share a wonderful piece from Steve Goodier on forgiveness. Forgiveness is not given because it is earned, it is given because it is needed. Here is what Steve has to say about it:

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

During the American Civil War, a young man named Roswell McIntyre was
drafted into the New York Cavalry. The war was not going well.
Soldiers were needed so desperately that he was sent into battle with
very little training. Roswell became frightened – he panicked and ran.
He was later court-martialed and condemned to be shot for desertion.
McIntyre’s mother appealed to President Lincoln. She pleaded that he
was young and inexperienced and he needed a second chance. The
generals, however, urged the president to enforce discipline.
Exceptions, they asserted, would undermine the discipline of an
already beleaguered army.

Lincoln thought and prayed. Then he wrote a famous statement. “I have
observed,” he said, “that it never does a boy much good to shoot him.”

He wrote this letter in his own handwriting: “This letter will certify
that Roswell McIntyre is to be readmitted into the New York Cavalry.
When he serves out his required enlistment, he will be freed of any
charges of desertion.”

That faded letter, signed by the president, is on display in the
Library of Congress. Beside it there is a note, which reads, “This
letter was taken from the body of Roswell McIntyre, who died at the
battle of Little Five Forks, Virginia.”

It never does a boy (or anybody else for that matter) much good to
shoot him. But you might be surprised at the power of forgiveness.

— Steve Goodier

It would serve us all well to remember that last paragraph. much love, :^) gene

If today brings even one choice your way
choose to be a bringer of the light :^) gene