Does forgiveness exist?

The soldier, Karl, was adamant that he needed Simon to hear his gruesome story in order to save himself and, more importantly, he needed Simon’s forgiveness to be able to rest peacefully. Simon recognized that Karl was showing true repentance but Simon could not decide if that was enough to forgive him. He also knew that Karl was ignorant, selfish, and a member of the group that had taken away the lives of his friends and family. When Karl finished his story and asked forgiveness from Simon, Simon became psychologically overwhelmed with everything that had happened. His choice was to not forgive the dying man. He chooses simply to walk out of the room in silence.

That night he discussed this with his friends and they applauded him for vengeful, religious and logical reasons. But that was not enough for Simon. The next day the same nurse approached Simon while he was working and told him that Karl died and wished that Simon take his personal belongings.

Simon’s reaction is to refuse them, and they are eventually sent back to Karl’s mother. For the rest of his story Simon could not find inner peace because of his past meeting with the dying man. He constantly second guessed himself and asked the opinions of people he met. He ends his story of personal hell by asking readers what they would have done if they were him.

Simon asks readers what they would have done if they were him and not what they would have done in that situation themselves. This is the first problem I see with his question. For me, the truth is that if I were Simon Wiesenthal I would have grown up in Europe as a Jew, graduated from school, been taken into the ghettos and work camps, and made the same choices he made. I am no more rational a human being than he is and I believe that by wording his question in this way he has prevented the possibility that the reader could have made a better decision in Simon’s place….

I can see the most obvious reasons to not forgive a Nazi soldier for killing innocent people. They are based on revenge and the idea of an "eye for an eye". That is the easiest way to handle something as difficult as this. But when I am presented with a philosophical question I have no desire to answer it in any way that would promote fear and hate. It is the bigger person who can rise above the pettiness of the situation to make an informed, rational decision. I see no reason to practice philosophical beliefs that could influence my actions in a way that would not prove to be the best choice possible….

Excerpted from the Holocaust site remember.org