Five Years ago.

      It's five years today since nine people were murdered during Bible study in a Charleston church.  Anthony Thomas's wife, Myra, who was leading the study, was among those who were killed. Washington Post published a lengthy interview with Anthony reflecting on the tragedy and its aftermath. This quote is from than interview.
"Even five years later, he told me that he still hears criticism that he was too quick to forgive such a heinous crime. Anthony explains that choosing to forgive does not mean he dismisses, condones or excuses his wife’s murder. Instead, as he sees it, he’s unshackling himself of the burdens of distress and despair while acknowledging the foundational Christian truth that we’re all sinners."  
        Thomas rightly recognizes that forgiveness does as much for the forgiver as for the forgiven. Refusal to forgive shackles the refuser to the perpetrator and the incident with all its attendant pain and hurt. Forgiving, as Thomas points, out recognizes that we are all sinners. 
       The Minneapolis Tribune today published a lengthy article about an attempt to catalog all the racial lynchings in America.  Fredrick Douglass biography, which I read recently, described his agony over the repression which quickly followed the conclusion of The War Between The States. Lynching became the method of denying racial justice and equality.  We need to know what happened and why. Without confronting the reality there is no hope of change. We are all in this together. John Donne said it well.

John Donne (1572–1631)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Takk for alt,

Al