dual personalities

This struck me as pertinent today. What do you think?

…[W]ho talks about forgiveness these days, other than the people who come to this place, or to places like this? What politician, what public person, do we hear standing up and saying that we must forgive? The message we are likely to hear is one of blame, of how this person or that person must be held to account for something bad that has happened. It is a message of retribution–that is all it is–a message of pure retribution, sometimes dressed up in concern about victims and public safety and matters of that sort. But if you do not forgive, and you think all the time about getting even, or punishing somebody who has done you a wrong, what are you achieving? You are not going to make that person better by hating or punishing him; oh no, that will not happen…

My brothers and sisters: do not be afraid to profess forgiveness. Do not be afraid to tell people who urge you to seek retribution or revenge that there is no place for any of that in your heart. Do not be embarrassed to say that you believe in love, and that you believe that water can wash away the sins of the world, and that you are prepared to put this message of forgiveness right at the heart of the world. My brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to say any of this, even if people laugh at you, or say that you are old-fashioned, or foolish, or that you believe things that cannot be believed. Do not worry about any of that–because love and forgiveness are more powerful than any of those cynical, mocking words and will always be so. Always.

–The Anglican bishop of Botswana in Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith

The (real-life) Anglican Holy Cross Cathedral in Gaborone, Botswana