The only way to break the hate cycle is to practice forgiveness. Think of a case when a mother is offended by son or daughter. Except in rare cases of extreme offenses the mother’s love overcomes the pain caused by the child and she forgives. The crux of religious teachings like Christian Buddhist etc is forgiveness. Jesus Christ’s first prayer on the cross was for forgiving those who crucified Him. Gandhi asked the police officer who kicked his teeth out if his leg hurt.
These great forgivers could forgive because they put themselves in the ‘offender’s shoes. Their minds were filled with intellectual empathy. The mother understood the ignorance of her child; Jesus and Gandhi understood the soldiers’ compulsion to perform their duties and their lack of moral courage to refuse to perform wrong act. They unconditionally loved the wrong doer. As their minds were free of hatred, they could easily forgive.
But in ordinary life we are not able to forgive like these great souls. That causes problem for us and the society. A non forgiving mind suffers more than the offender’s.
POEM gives great importance to forgiveness in life without which peace is not possible. One can purchase and use any type of sophisticated weapon to fight ‘enemy. But forgiveness is the most powerful weapon, to ‘defeat’ enemies; and which is also the most difficult to ‘make’. Once you succeed in forgiving you have won the world.
Sincere effort and practice to forgive is part of POEM life.