Louis Roney: Forgive our sins

“Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one wants to change himself.” — Leo Tolstoy

Even those who do not subscribe to any organized religion may value ethical truths which enhance the ability of people to live amicably and productively with others.

None of us is without fault. Acknowledging one’s misdeeds, and asking others’ forgiveness is for some people a key requisite for “going to heaven.”

For a simple country-boy opera singer, saying “I’m sorry” when it’s called for is good behavior that nurtures long friendships.

Poets and philosophers have expounded on the words, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

“To err is human, to forgive divine.” — Alexander Pope

“The worst of men are those who will not forgive.” — Thomas Fuller

“Forgiveness is the child’s answer to a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, and what is soiled is made clean again.” — Dag Hammarskjold

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”— William Blake

Perhaps because a friend’s action involves the betrayal of a trust? My wise grandmother told me, “The person who wrongs you learns to hate you. For every time he sees you, he is reminded of his own wrongdoing.”

“The offender never pardons.” — George Herbert

“They who have done the wrong never forgive.” — John Dryden

“Forgotten is forgiven.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“What power has love but forgiveness? In other words, by its intervention what has been done can be undone. What good is it otherwise?” —William Carlos Williams

“Forgiving is better than punishing.” —Diogenes

“The public seldom forgives twice.” — Johann Lavater

“Let us forgive and forget, and forgive injuries.” — Cervantes

“Forgive our foolish ways.” — John Greenleaf Whittier

Some cretin coined the sicko saying, “Don’t get angry, get even.”

Much healthier to get angry, let it blow over, and then forget it — and not harbor a nagging desire for “revenge.”

Nietzsche said, “Nothing on earth consumes a man more quickly than the passion of resentment.”

My early training included “never being jealous of anyone.” In my life I have successfully ruled out that unattractive emotion. A performing career often makes one the object of intense jealousy. Everyone in the public eye should learn how to deal with the jealousy of less talented people. It’s best to let jealousy remain somebody else’s problem.

Desire for revenge is a destructive emotion that consumes the one who pursues it. When you, and/or those you love, are ill-treated, don’t try to “get even.” Getting even makes someone else’s problem

your problem too. If apologies are not forthcoming, “turn the other cheek.” To me, this means simply turning around and walking away, leaving the other person to deal in solitude with his ethical problem and its nagging consequences. Don’t do anything to offenders. Simply don‘t do anything for them.

Shakespeare said:

“Blow, blow, thou winter wind!

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude!”

“Ingrates are dumfounded to learn the costs of their ingratitude.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

P.S.: Don’t let the ungrateful stop you from giving. For giving is the secret of a happy life. And there are always quality people worthy of your help.

George Herbert (1593-1633) coined many sayings still remembered. I say “Hear! Hear!” to these Herbert thoughts:

“He who lies with dogs riseth with fleas.”

“Dare to be true; nothing can need a lie;

A fault that needs it most, grows two thereby.

Show me a liar, and I’ll show you a thief.” (Hillary?)

• Americans are now asked to exonerate 11 million people who have entered our country illegally. No recent U.S. President, until the present, has paid serious attention to the dangers of our open borders. Both Republicans and Democrats seem willing to court the illegal aliens as future voters in their own political parties. The fox is already in our bosom, gnawing away at the vital issues of our safety and our economy. The erection of the promised wall between us and Mexico may finally emerge, and its cost would not be a fraction of the cost of providing entitlements for millions of illegal aliens and their burgeoning families. Closing the barn door now may still be the wise move, even though the horse is long gone. Only Solomon would have the answer as to what to do with the 11 million illegal aliens now living with us, and off us, but an answer must be found.

Most people agree that those committing crime should be long gone. Accepting the status quo is morally indefensible, and weakens the fiber of our long-held creed that “we are a land of laws, not of men.”

Compromise for the wrong reasons is known in the vernacular as a

“sell-out.” What is the “just” answer?