I wonder, after enough years have passed for all of us living this age to care, would reconciliation be possible? Would forgetting help us heal and move on? Is this an unexpected or even an unwelcome purpose of forgetting?
We forget in order to forgive. Time will erase from our collective consciousness the scarred memories of the killings today.
And sometimes we do things so stupid that even God struggles to forgive us. --- Crime and Punishment
The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]
William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616
The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea; Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.
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