SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30: This is good news! There are a number of “Forgiveness Day” efforts throughout the year—so clearly there are lots of people who realize that the world needs more practice in forgiveness. And the good news is: Many folks are out there promoting the idea. Among the earlier Forgiveness Day observances is the annual Jain practice of asking for forgiveness because of past faults and mistakes, a holiday sometimes spelled Kshamavani or Shamavani in various calendars. There also was an International Forgiveness Day in August that was celebrated primarily on the West Coast.
The October 30 effort is sponsored by a group based in Ohio that, each year, hopes to spread this important reminder to more and more people. This isn’t an official national holiday, but we certainly wish the organizers well in their fifth annual effort to promote forgiveness. They are hoping that, this year, millions of people wil hear their appeal. The group, whose online Forgiveness message promotes the Ohio-based Center for Unconditional Love, promotes a personal pledge that sounds quite helpful:
I pledge to forgive others, forgive myself, and ask for forgiveness each day. I pledge to not let the sun go down on my anger, to ask for bitterness to be removed, and for my joy to be restored.
America probably would be a better place if we all lived by such a code.
