My wife suffers from dyslexia and often misreads the written word but she makes up in eloquence with her spoken word. Anyone might be forgiven if one misreads the title of this blog. Statues are being torn down as I write , Statues of the famous and infamous of history. Statute is a legislative decree that places in a Statute of Limitations the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings can be initiated. The idea is to encourage resolution and concentrate minds to be done with the matter. Serious crime is an exception to the rule when no matter how dastardly the deed justice can be sought.
Thinking of timeline how far must or can we go back, in fact should we go back at all to look at events of old. Can we go on about the two world wars forever ( lest we forget ) can we go back to when Black slavery was Britain’s leading industry or should there be a time limit or a distinguish between generations ? Should we pull down the Pyramids of Egypt which stand as a testimony of Hebrew enslavement over 2000 years ago or should we erase all memory of the Nazi Death Camps when millions were enslaved.
How far do we look back ? Yes History can and does often repeat itself but surely there must come a time when Forgiveness reigns and we forget not because we are remiss but because it’s healthier to do so. To carry the rucksack of retribution is a load too much and there should be limitation if only for our well being. How could anyone possibly not agree that to enslave any man or woman is wrong but it is still going on today in the brothels of the world, in Africa and England both white, black and brown, yellow, mocca and more.
Slavery was a serious and still is a serious crime though at one point across Continents it was only a crime to humanity and until the Wind of Wilberforce and the Longing of Lincoln stood up did we see that crime be abolished and removed. I knew a Japanese Lady Keiko Holmes who married an English man and who spent her life repatriating prisoners of war from Europe back East to forgive their torturers. Some had been wheel chair bound and on meeting their captors and after expressing forgiveness got out of their wheelchairs forever.
Of course we can continue to pull down all the offending statues or hide them in Museums but is it not better to harness forgiveness and rise from our Chairs of Catastrophe, moving forward in forgiveness. Let not timeline limit the power of forgiveness and let’s hand it all over to our Creator God to sort out the unholy mess of history, the huge mistakes of mankind and guide us into a new world where we can all be the change. In doing so we can build statues to those that help do this to the black lady I know who helped nurse my Mother as she lay dying in a hospital , to the black lawyer who defended our Company of white men when evil people tried their best to defraud us.
We are in a crisis of all sorts today and we need to pull together not pull apart. Don’t let those intent on destruction interfere with the good that is out there and don’t forget how far we have come. There should be no limitation as to how far we must all go to bring peace and through forgiveness find favour.
Let’s build a statue of hope in all of our Cities and let us tear up the Statutes of Man that limit us from being a force of renewal, a force for good and forgiveness forever.
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