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Connor Jennings's avatar

Forgiveness is not in vogue anymore, and I think that's a damned shame. We're more than our worst moments

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Amod Sandhya Lele's avatar

I think talk of redemption and forgiveness might beg the most important question: how long *should* we let a person's bad actions follow them around? This obviously depends to at least some extent on the gravity of the action. But we do usually accept the importance of letting minor transgressions go - we typically think less of someone who is still bitter that their spouse forgot their birthday once, fifteen years later. Even for major crimes, the way our system is *supposed* to work involves rehabilitation: after twenty years in jail you have *done your time*, and now you should be able to start again.

There's nothing inherent about bad actions that says the stain of them *must* follow a person around, in a way that necessitates redemption or forgiveness if the stain is to go away. To decide to continue to vilify a person for vile actions is as much of a decision as deciding that we don't need to worry about that anymore.

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