Your Monday inspiration -Magic forgiveness at work

Today, I’d like to go a little off-road on our discussion of the Colombian peace accords (don’t worry, I’m planning on wrapping this up by the end of the week, and go back to exciting climbing adventures and some backed up posts on tech).

Context: In April, 2002, at their operational peak, the FARC came right into Cali’s downtown and proceeded to kidnap 15 State Assembly reps (Diputados). Then these assholes kept them for over five years, until, in June 2007, they killed them when they mistakenly thought the military was coming to rescue them. They then attempted to cover the whole thing up and blame the Colombian military. Yeah… classy dudes.

In any event, a few days ago, the high FARC command involved in the decision to kidnap and kill (and cover up the killing of) the reps met with their families to ask for forgiveness (!). Powerful, and I have to say unprecedented. The son of one of the murdered Diputados then wrote up the following on Facebook. I’ve done my best to translate it with the help of Google Translate, but I’m also putting the original version below.

It literally gave me chills, and I found it as inspiring an argument for the peace accords, as for how we live our lives. If we see more of this happen across the country, then we are on the right track.

Letter from Sebastian Arizmendi (my translation — all errors my own)

Today, I feel a peace that I’d never felt before in my life. I feel an inner peace that I needed for a long time; today, I can finally say that my father can rest in peace.
I’m not going to lie, before going to bed the night before I had many fears. I thought about how it would be the moment when I’d see those who murdered my father, Ivan Marquez, ‘Pablo Catatumbo’, ‘Rodrigo Granda’ and ‘Joaquin Gomez’ [ed: these are FARC commander aliases].
I simply thought I wouldn’t withstand such pressure, and would just run away just begging for justice.
At dawn, my anxiety wouldn’t leave me; dizziness and stress prevailed in me. Therefore, I was not able to eat breakfast and left for the meeting with an empty stomach and full of fear and pain in my heart.
The time had come. I looked to heaven imploring the Holy Spirit to give me the strength to cope. They came in, and I have to confess I felt nothing; I gathered my strength, and I stood up to demand the truth.
I showed all my pain and suffering for all these years. I told them something I had always wanted to say to them: I swore I’d kill you all when I was only nine, with tears in my eyes and the soul shattered by the murder of my father.
However, I told them that I had already forgiven and had already forgiven me, and so I was free and happy. But they, as I did not expect (I never expected anything from them), listened to me with respect and paid attention to all my words. In the end, ‘Pablo Catatumbo’ took the floor and said: “We do not take pride in the murder of the deputies, that should have never happened. Today we publicly acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness. I hope you can also forgive us.” And Ivan Marquez, “from the depths of our being we feel your pain. Let our feelings embrace you and ask for forgiveness for this situation.” In addition to many other words they were saying without a script in his hands.
Honestly, I never expect them to ask for forgiveness; themselves always characterized by being tough and proud. Yesterday, I didn’t recognize the Ivan Marquez of always. He looked sad and did not object to any of our requirements.
For all the above, something very strange happened in my body. The suffering was disappearing from me, and I felt I had obtained justice because I realized that seeing them in jail would not bring me my father back. However, forcing them to listen to me and to hear them feel sorry for what they did, it made me feel like a big person while seeing them very small.
Finally, I left with a smile on my face and saw how my father was proud of me in heaven because I realized that he gave his life, so Colombia could be a better place.
I love you Dad, you’re always in my mind and heart, and I swear that my life will be to fulfill the dream we both had: see Colombia as a much better for all of us.

Original letter in Spanish (source: El Pais)

Hoy siento una tranquilidad que nunca en mi vida había sentido, siento una paz interior que necesitaba desde hace mucho tiempo, hoy puedo decir que por fin mi padre se puede ir a descansar en paz.

No les voy a mentir, antes de acostarme a dormir en la noche anterior tenía muchos miedos, pensaba como iba a ser ese momento cuando viera a los que asesinaron a mi padre: ‘Iván Márquez’, ‘Pablo Catatumbo’, ‘Rodrigo Granda’ y ‘Joaquín Gomez’.

Simplemente creía que no iba a soportar tanta presión y sencillamente saldría corriendo de allí implorando por justicia.

Al amanecer, la ansiedad no me abandonaba, los mareos y el estrés eran los que primaban en mí. Por lo tanto, no fui capaz de desayunar y partí a mi encuentro con el estómago vacío pero lleno de miedos y dolores en mi corazón.

El momento había llegado, miré al cielo implorando al Espíritu Santo que me diera la fuerza para afrontar la situación. En ese momento, ellos entraron, y les confieso no sentí nada, me llene de fuerza y me puse de pie a exigirles la verdad.

Mostré todo mi dolor y sufrimiento durante todos estos años, les dije algo que siempre había querido decirles: yo jure matarlos a todos ustedes cuando solo tenía nueve años, con lágrimas en mis ojos y con el alma destrozada, por el asesinato de mi padre.

Sin embargo, les dije que ya los había perdonado y también ya me había perdonado y por eso yo era libre y feliz. Pero, ellos como nunca lo había esperaba (nunca espere nada de ellos) me escucharon con respeto y ponían atención a todas mis palabras. Al final, ‘Pablo Catatumbo’ tomó la palabra y nos dijo: “No nos orgullecemos del asesinato de los diputados, eso nunca debió pasar. Hoy hacemos un reconocimiento público y pedimos perdón. Ojalá ustedes también nos perdonen” e ‘Iván Márquez’ “Desde lo más profundo de nuestro ser sentimos su dolor. Permítanos que nuestros sentimientos los abrace, y pedirles perdón por esta situación”. Además de muchas otras palabras que decían sin un libreto en sus manos.

Sinceramente, jamás espere que ellos pidieran perdón, siempre se caracterizaron por ser duros y orgullosos, ayer desconocí al ‘Iván Márquez’ de siempre, se veía triste y no reprochaba ninguno de nuestros requerimientos.

Por todo lo anterior, algo muy extraño pasaba en mi cuerpo, el sufrimiento se fue desapareciendo de mí, y sentía que había obtenido justicia, porque me di cuenta que viéndolos en la cárcel no me traería a mi padre de vuelta, pero obligándolos a escucharme y escucharlos arrepentidos por lo que hicieron, me hizo sentir grande y a ellos verlos muy pequeños.

Finalmente, salí con una sonrisa en mi rostro y veía cómo mi padre se sentía orgulloso de mí en el cielo, porque comprendí que su vida fue entregada para que Colombia fuera una mucho mejor.

Te amo papá, siempre estarás en mi mente y corazón, y te juro que mi vida será para cumplir el sueño que ambos tuvimos: ver a Colombia como una mucho mejor para todos nosotros