February, 2015

“Healing rather than harming is our most fundamental ethical choice.”  The day approaches when two Australians may be executed in Indonesia. [They were indeed executed. We mourn their unnecessary deaths still.]

And on this or any other day hundreds of others, perhaps thousands will die needless deaths from personal or state-sanctioned violence. with this in our minds and hearts, I would ask you please to consider what your own relationship is to the quality of mercy: how it resonates in your heart and life: how it shapes your thinking, choices and actions.

“Blessed are the merciful…for they shall obtain mercy,” the Christian bible teaches. But let’s give mercy, show mercy, understand and practise mercy not for any possible personal gain – but because to do so is one of our most profound ethical freedoms. That is gain enough. That is freedom enough. Here is a link to an article on mercy published on 24 February 2015 by the Sydney Morning Herald in which I reflect on mercy, and on the lives and rehabilitation of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran who – so unexpectedly – have given us this rare chance to think long and deeply about one of the most transformative qualities of all.

You are free to comment on this via the Sydney Morning Herald, or on my own public Facebook page. Please, please engage with this issue. Our world needs mercy as dry ground needs rain. “In the vast repertoire of human emotion and experience, mercy remains an exquisite, life-giving opportunity.”