Originally Posted by
Sunvox
So you have a son in college and one night he gets with his buds and they break out the cocaine and he decides to "give it a try" and the cops show up and bust him.
Do you ever forgive him? Is he ever accepted back into society after his one bad choice? Does prison time afford him a "reset"?
I was hired at United Airlines in 1996. I read "Hard Landing" and "Flying the Line". I think 570s are windbags full of themselves. I would never cross a picket line, but . . .
I am a Christian and I believe in Forgiveness. How do pilots justify hating somebody for their whole life when the offense occurred decades earlier? Is there ever a chance or way for a "scab" to be accepted back into the fold? If you make a choice when you are 25 are you marked for life like Hester Prynne? Isn't hating somebody 25 years after their offense a type of prejudice?
I know . . . now I'm a "scab lover" and subject to the same vilification, but that's ok because I'm a Christian. Actually I'll be a little proud if that's what happens
Much can be said about forgiveness, in fact entire books have been written about it. And still, so many questions remain unanswered, and so many controversies continue to rage. Can one truly forgive if he cannot forget? Does true forgiveness require forgetting? Does the offender have to ask for forgiveness before the offended can offer it? Does forgiveness erase consequences? Does the offender have to change his ways before he can be forgiven? Just as assuredly as you already have answers to some or all of those questions, other people reading the same questions have different answers or no answers.
Your Christian concept of forgiveness no doubt comes from the Bible, where we have examples of God's forgiveness being withheld contingent on repentance. In both the New Testament (Acts 3:19, Romans 8:1) and the Old Testament (Lamentations 3:42, II Kings 24:4), God's pardon is contingent upon obedience. His forgiveness requires action on the part of the offender.
Given that perspective, I see no obligation to forgive an unrepentant scab. While numerous examples have been offered in this thread of pilots who crossed a picket line under duress, or out of ignorance, and have subsequently apologized and asked for forgiveness, and even have paid fines as a symbol of recompense, those instances are comparatively rare. Most who scabbed believed they were doing the right thing, and still do.
Apart from the repentance aspect of forgiveness is the consequence of the act. If your next-door neighbor backs his car into your car and puts a dent in your fender, he can ask for your forgiveness, he can receive your forgiveness, and you might even eventually forget the incident. However, there's still a dent in your car. Lucky for you, we have ways of repairing dents, and pretty soon you can have it looking like it never happened, and you can treat your neighbor as if it never happened. Isn't that what forgiveness is all about? Acting as if it never happened? Of course, that's perfect forgiveness.
But what if the same neighbor murdered your wife? He can ask for your forgiveness, and he can receive your forgiveness, but that doesn't mean you can kiss your wife good night. When you're sitting on your front porch in that rocking chair in your retirement years, will you have forgotten that the love of your life was snatched away from you by a violent crime? There are consequences that cannot be escaped, cannot be reversed. The most obvious consequence is that your wife is gone, forever. The next most obvious is that your neighbor will spend some time in prison. In fact, he may spend the rest of his life in prison, or even be executed for his crime. Forgiveness cannot erase the consequences.
Still, you're probably thinking, forgiveness is about how YOU treat the neighbor, and you need to forgive him. You won't treat him any differently than you did before he committed the heinous act. You'll treat him as if it never happened.
So, what if the neighbor molested your 8-year-old daughter? He was caught, he confessed, he apologized and asked for your forgiveness, and you forgave him. He went to prison, "paid his debt to society", and he's now enjoying a quiet life, still in the house next door. Will you let him babysit your 8-year-old granddaughter? Do you treat him the same as before he molested your daughter, or do you treat him differently? I would guess that although he asked forgiveness, and you granted forgiveness, although he has paid his debt to society and you are trying to treat him as if it never happened, he will not be treated the same. His actions have consequences that can never be erased.
There are consequences that cannot be erased by forgiveness. Crossing a picket line undermines the efforts of employees to improve the working conditions and quality of life for their families. Countless families are harmed when a single selfish individual scoffs at everyone but himself to cross that line, and that harm inflicted on the families is not ever erased. Many readers will consider it outrageous to compare crossing a picket line with murdering a loved one or molesting a young girl, but the concepts are the same. The damage done was real, and permanent. Whatever struggles or successes one might have with the concept of forgiveness, the consequences of the offense are lasting.
It's not like accidentally bumping into a fender.
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