Article February 19, 2018 Issue

Forgiving hate, finding healing

Joan Bernard Bradley

A version of this article was published in The Christian Science Monitor’s Christian Science Perspective column, September 19, 2017.

Years ago, a friend of mine, a young black woman, was walking up the stairs to exit a subway station. As she reached the top of the stairs, she walked by a man who was asking passersby for coins. The man was of a different race than she was. As she walked by him, without any provocation, he started yelling at her and called her a name that is hateful and denigrating. Stunned, she went on her way, wondering why he was taking out his rage on her.

Afterward, each time the incident came to thought, the young woman pushed it aside as best she could, but memories of it were jarring. She recalled the idiom “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Well, that certainly wasn’t true in this case.

The idea that she wasn’t destined to suffer from this incident inspired the young woman.