'To Bless All Mankind' January 9, 2017 Issue

To move beyond past wrongs

David C. Kennedy

Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor, November 2, 2016.

As the editorial on the facing page explains, many nations hang on to historic, sometimes even ancient, wrongs done to them by other countries. This collective sense of victimhood too often drives foreign policy in the direction of aggression and war, bringing tremendous suffering on innocent people.

It may be easy for you and me to see the folly of nations dredging up long-gone reasons for war, instead of recognizing the benefits of moving forward toward greater peace and cooperation. But are we always awake to the ways in which we ourselves hang on to past wrongs done to us—and the mental, emotional, and even physical suffering this can bring?

Moving beyond a sense of victimhood (concerning ourselves, or in sympathy for others) may not be easy, but we have a powerful remedy in praying to gain a more spiritual understanding of the safety and supreme care that God, divine Love, provides for everyone. As we learn that we’re far more than the vulnerable mortals we seem to be, we begin to feel a surer trust in God, and we lose our fear that others can hurt us.

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