Forgiving is sublime. Jesus, our Master, gave us an example of this, in His arbitrary process of judgment, scourging and death.

Whoever had pointed out that enemies should be loved, could not have had another attitude.

However, when forgiveness brings us to individual matters, in a general way, we recognize how difficult it is to perform the example of the Narazene.

It seems impossible that certain things can be forgiven. But, some creatures do it, with rising dignity. As Eric Lomax.

He was a British officer, when he became prisoner in what became known as the death railroad.

This railroad linked Bangkok to Burma, now Myanmar. It was a Japanese project, but it was carried out by thousands of war´s prisoners.

Eighty-three thousand are estimated to have died while being exploited, during the construction of the railroad.

It was there that Lomax met Nagase Takashi, one of his torturers, who also served as an interpreter.

For an entire year, Japanese officials tried to get him to confess to being a resistance collaborator, which was never true.

Lomax had his arms and hip bones broken, as well as drowning tactics.  

When he returned to his country in 1945, after three years as a prisoner, no one was waiting for him at the pier. A letter informed him that his mother had died and his father had remarried.

He needed intense therapeutic work and the help of his wife, to face the unspeakable horror of his trauma. 

Forty years later, still suffering from post-traumatic stress, he found the one he identified as the main responsible for his torture.

The insistent words still echoed in his mind: Confess, Lomax. Confess and there will be no more pain.

According to the British´s wife, his intention, when setting up a meeting with the Japanese, was to kill him.

The two met again precisely on the railroad that Lomax was forced to help build.

The image of the war that most tormented Nagase was that of an English lieutenant, whose torture he had eased and believed to be dead.

As soon as he saw Eric, Takashi started to cry and beg for forgiveness, compulsively. It was then that Lomax discovered that, after the war, his mortal enemy had been condemned and started working on the railroad, looking for bodies.

However he could not immediately give up his vengeance and be reconciled with who he considered his mortal enemy.

A few weeks later, in Hiroshima, of all, the most unlikely place, Lomax granted the forgiveness that Nagase needed to live and die in peace.

Eventually they became friends and, in a letter, Lomax later wrote to him: Someday, hate must end.

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Forgiveness brings peace. It is sometimes a time-consuming process.

Time for those who consider themselves the victim to manage the sense of pain within themselves.

Time to look at the enemy and realize that he is an unfortunate person who also needs peace.

And, since hate must end, forgiveness is offered.

 Spiritist Moment Team, based on
Biohgraphic data of Eric Lomax.
July, 14.2020