Forgiveness: Unjustified Moral Obligation

Many people consider forgiveness as a virtue and something desirable. Nevertheless, people define it differently, probably depending on circumstances. As Jeffrie Murphy puts it, forgiveness is the forswearing of resentment- the resolute overcoming of the anger and hatred that are naturally directed toward a person who has done an unjustified and non-excused moral injury. According to this statement, forgiveness is directly related to moral obligation from individuals. It suggests that unjustified moral injury to a person may cause anger and hatred that can only be overcome through forgiveness. On the same note, this definition gives a parallel between forgiveness and resentment. For instance, forgiveness helps in overcoming certain vices like …show more content…
Historically, many atrocities have been committed to certain persons, leading to cycles of revenge and cries of innocence. In politics, forgiveness can only have the true meaning when revenge stops and the accused stop working towards proving innocence. The need to publicly know what mistakes were done is important into accepting and deciding to forgive. Nevertheless, forgiveness differs from mercy because the former entails a situation where the victim works to overcome vices like resentment and hatred while mercy comes in when certain passions like love are involved. Therefore, forgiveness can only occur in the right context. Forgiveness is an important act that sets people free from some of the previous experiences. However, there is need to have an approach that ensures all the parties involved come together to lay everything down. In the legal field, forgiveness may have many other aspects that determine its administration. For instance, the lawyer or mediator may fail to advice for it because it entails accepting liability for the wrong done. For this reason, lawyers would find it difficult to route for the same because of the conditions and the repercussions that come with