The Slap is the difference between revenge and forgiveness

An article caught my eye today. It was about an incident in Iran, a young boy was stabbed to death in a street fight and the murderer was due to be hanged publically. When he was about to be hanged, the victim’s mother shows up, slaps tight on the face of the murderer and said she forgave him.

It was a remarkable feeling reading this article. No wonder it was heinous what the murderer had done, the lady lost her son, something that would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. I don’t know what I would do if I were in her place, maybe I would say – HANG HIM, he deserves it – “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” right? But I can’t help but wonder what would have been running through her mind to say that she forgives the man who killed her son.

Just when we thought the attributes of greatness are with the BIG people, the Lincolns or the Einsteins, something that stops us in the tracks are the greatness of people shown in the acts of daily life. I probably would never know how the life of the GREATS would have been but this strikes to me as something equally stunning.

Think of all the emotions the lady had gone through – Anger, hurt, sorrow, pity, hatred, helplessness. I can’t even try to fathom the depth of them. But what she decides to do in the midst of all these, she decides to rise up beyond all of them to something even bigger.

She slaps him on the face and walks away. There can be a hundred views to what and why she did and whether it was right or wrong but she did stand up to something beyond all of that. I think it is these moments of action which define us as people. As it is rightly said, talk is easy, it is easy to sit back in retrospect and think what all could be done and how all it could be addressed.

But the moment of action is something which makes us stop and think for a while to realize – HUMANITY is certainly a virtue. And as the criminal mentioned – “The slap was the difference between revenge and forgiveness”

11 thoughts on “The Slap is the difference between revenge and forgiveness”

  1. Thank you Suhas. I think you are right, she probably got her peace. Maybe, hopefully but I am still amazed at the humanity. Simply spell binding. As in it wasn’t something expected or either hoped for. I guess most of them there wouldn’t even be having a second thought but hers definitely made the difference!

    Thank you for the lovely words Suhas, glad you liked the article. Thanks so much for sharing your views. Looking forward for more such lovely interactions :)

  2. That was the prevalent idea I believe. Infact I didnt even stop for a while to think about the death penalty till she came up with such a noble action!
    Seriously hats off! :)

  3. She did great and has perhaps got her peace. The forgiven convict hopefully turns a new leaf. But the murder was an outcome of a brawl. We certainly can’t use these arguments in rape cases that India saw recently. Well written blog and very relevant to our times.

  4. True Vinesh, I was really astounded to know that she could be so forgiving. People definitely are amazing, and the greatness they show even more so :)

    Thank you for the thoughts Vinesh, would love to hear more from you :)

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