It is indeed a potent Forgiveness to refuse to argue, even when “in the right”;
… to refuse to attack, even when being threatened;
… to refuse to ridicule, even after being ridiculed;
… to refuse to litigate, even when you have been wronged;
… to refuse to conquer, even when victory is at hand .

There is far too little of these types of Forgiveness in our world, and we would all be better off if we would choose to employ them far more often.

Secondly, true Forgiveness comes when we Forgive those who are overtly acting as our enemies — those who are actively seeking to harm us and those we love. And the best examples of this can best be seen in the choices being made by most of our current politicians …

*Consider our local & regional politicians, who are every day succumbing to governments corrupt & nonviable; abandoning we the people in their quests for wealth & power … We can Forgive these men & women best by refusing to vote for them any longer; by refusing to recognize the wafer-thin differences between their political parties (for they too, are all one); by refusing to enable their own moral downfalls by feeding the illusion that they can afford to truly care for us; by openly ignoring their actions underhanded & exhortations hollow — and choosing instead to rebuild our communities ourselves.

*And consider our “world leaders”, who are every day inflicting terrific & malicious evils upon the Good & the innocent — most notoriously: Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan, Hu Jintao of China (free Tibet now!), Muammar Qaddafi of Libya, and of course, Barrack Obama of the United States (whose despicable Drone War has destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women & children, and whose recent prepubescent saber-rattling with Russia has unnecessarily made the world far less safe for us all) … These “leaders” (and others like them all over the world) are this very moment actively harming each & every one of us. As such, what they need most is our Forgiveness; a Forgiveness that can best be given by reaching out to them openly and with great Compassion; by letting them know that we are aware of their evil ways; by letting them know that we will never support the same; and by letting them know that we SEE the better men & women within them — that we will always have faith in their ability to SEE and re-enliven the same.

And finally — let us realize that Forgiveness often flows deepest, and thereby becomes most effective, in its most subtle forms. Humbly consider the following:

*… that it is the poor & the downtrodden & the destitute & the homeless (i.e. those who own & control far less than we) who attack us — by reminding us that we have accumulated far more than we deserve, and are hoarding far more than we actually need … We can Forgive these “opponents” best by stopping to speak with them when tempted to otherwise look away & pass them by; by sitting down with them on occasion and touching them on the shoulder and looking them in the eye; by showing them we Care.

*… that it is the “heathens” & the “damned” & the “heretics” & the “unsaved” (i.e. those who do not believe in our own particular religion) who attack us — by reminding us that we ourselves are not adhering to the fundamental tenants of Goodness imbedded in our own faiths … We can Forgive these “enemies” best by openly telling them that they we refuse to condemn or judge them (indeed, that we have no standing to do so); by humbly serving them as the brothers & sisters they are; by going to their place of worship & sitting there with them in respectful silence.

*… and that it is the sentient yet “stupid” & “ugly” farmed animals, along with those “annoying” & “arrogant” humans who champion their rights to life & freedom, who are attacking us as well — reminding us that, as long as we treat other sentient beings as mere commodities, we are not truly as Kind or as friendly or as compassionate or as Good as we outwardly pretend to be … We can Forgive these “perpetrators” best by showing living as compassionately as they live and championing the same justice they champion — something we can do most effectively by simply going vegan for a day.

And so it is, my Friends, that my fifth “Final Wish” is for you to seek out the perpetrators & the opponents & the enemies in your own lives, and then for you to actively Forgive them this day — remembering, of course, that for Forgiveness to be effective it must be courageous; that that for Forgiveness to be real, it must be a verb.