Ervin Staub Speaks About Forgiveness
Ervin Staub is a professor of psychology at
the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of "The Roots of
Evil." In this video clip from a presentation at Facing History, Staub
talks about forgiveness in the context of Rwandan Hutus and Tutsis.
Transcript:
"You can think about forgiveness as an
individual process. When people forgive, psychologically they are
better. If you live together, perpetrators and victims, and you as a
survivor forgive-let go-but the other people still hold the same
attitude towards you, then you are still one down. Forgiveness, if it
happens, and as it happens, has to be incorporated in the process of
reconciliation. What is reconciliation? Mutual acceptance. It's a
process; it happens at various levels; it changes over time. In Rwanda,
a lot of people are open to it. Sometimes what I worry about is that
they skip various stages and have move to forgiveness when
psychologically they have not developed to a place where they can
authentically forgive. Many of the people who work in the community in
Rwanda on healing and reconciliation are survivors. They work with
Hutus and Tutsi in the community, try to bring them together, do
meaningful things with them. That is a kind of forgiveness in action.
So there is a process of forgiveness going on amongst survivors."
Related Videos:
Video length:
01 min 19 sec
Date filmed:
May 9 2003 
