Category: Forgiveness

From Andrew Sullivan comes this…

I have a friend – one of my very best, actually – who I affectionately refer to as my “anti-me”. She is everything I am not.

She is Republican, Evangelical, Christianist, and Liberty University educated. She married at 22 followed in short order by 2 kids. She lived in the suburbs when we met and now lives in a rural area outside of a very small town. She is homophobic, anti-abortion, and a Tea Party sympathizer. She loves Sarah Palin. She thinks Barack Obama is an over-educated socialist who is trying to ruin America.

I am a Democrat, a skeptical Catholic, never been married and with no kids. I live in the city and can’t imagine living in a small town. I have gay friends and gay relatives and I am pro-gay marriage. I am pro-choice. I think Sarah Palin is an uneducated extremist who is trying to ruin America (to say the least). I voted for and continue to support Obama.

There is no reason that we should be friends. But we listen to each other. We talk, civilly, about the things we disagree about but it doesn’t dominate our friendship. We respect each others’ viewpoints, even when we think it is the craziest thing we’ve ever heard. I think I have become a better, more intellectually well-rounded person because I know her. I am less quick to judge and more open to hearing new ideas. I challenge my own beliefs more and I am better at examining view points I oppose.

We should all have an anti-me.

-by Robert Eller-Isaacs

For remaining silent when a single voice would have made a difference,
we forgive ourselves and each other other; we begin again in love.

For each time that our fears have made us rigid and inaccessible,
we forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For each time that we have struck out in anger without just cause,
we forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For each time that our greed has blinded us to the needs of others,
we forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For the selfishness which sets us apart and alone,
we forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For those and for so many acts both evident and subtle which have fueled the illusion of separateness,
we forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.