just  watched the news with  the family of Anthony Walker were being interviewed after the verdict was give .

What a lovely lady I became really  upset when she said to the journalist I know what the next question is "do I forgive them" she looked up at the sky then said "yes.. I forgive them"  "we will all take a piece of Anthony and he will live on in us"

Makes me think deeply about what I would do ...could I forgive ....NO I dont think I could

My question is .....Could you????????

Roni

Admin:please keep this thread on topic and answer the question posed. Any posts that go off on a tangent will be removed

No!

I've tried to look at this objectively but no, I don't think I could forgive and I certainly wouldn't be able to forget....  :-(

NO and people need to openly show that this sort of mindless intolerance and discrimination is unacceptable. 

:-(  In my darkest moments I thank my lucky stars that I don't ever intend to have children as I just think that this world is getting worse and worse and nothing seems to ever happen to make it better.  :-(

Its a sad sad world.....  :-(

deffinatly not !!!!!!!!!!

I might add that if one of my sons had been guilty of this terrible crime, I don't think that I could have forgiven him either!

re the "mindless intolerance and discrimination is unacceptable." I completely agree and I hope that both of these people are given a long, long sentence.  I think however that the forgiveness issue is something different, from what I've seen the parents are Christian and forgiveness is part of that and I don't think this is a bad thing.  It is going to do the parents no good hating these two it will just make their lives even worse than they are already.  If they have the capacity to forgive (obviously the hardest part) it may well help them to come to terms with this.

Forgiveness in this sense is not really about the person who is forgiven it's about the person forgiving if you see what I mean.

Like I said forgiveness should not be confused with punishment or lack of punishment, murder, violent and racially motivated crimes should be completely unacceptable in our society and the punishment should be severe.

Steve

I agree shadbolts and if (god forbid) I was ever in the shoes of that family then I hope that I could have the same strength and courage and be able to forgive too.

However I think that they are just that - stronger and braver than me....

You have summed up my feelings exactly Steve.  If anything like this happened to mine I would pray that I could be as strong as this woman because I truly believe she is the stronger for it.

Thought about what you've said but no, I don't get it.  I am not saying it's wrong to forgive and I understand that by forgiving and not hating helps the family move on but I still don't get it overall.  How can you be forgiving without this meaning I accept you murdered my son, you are being punished so that makes it ok with me?

I don't think it ever makes it ok, it's about accepting it's happend and moving on.  The punishment of the murderer will help to provide some closure on all of this and the forgiveness will help them not the people who did this..

Their son is dead they have to live with that, being eaten away because of the hate you feel for the murderer doesn't help.  As I said I think the forgiveness is for the relatives of the victims future not the murderer's.  As someone else has already pointed out this sort of thing can tear the victims families apart making everything even worse.  If they can forgive and allow themselves to move on that has got to be the way to go.  

I don't know how I would feel in a similar situation I suspect I wouldn't have the strength to forgive.

Steve

Well to complete the picture ideally the culprit should be saying they are sorry and accepting the punishment otherwise I suppose if is futile to forgive but I think this woman is demonstrating her willness to forgive if the guilty one is of a mind to do that, sort of leading the way.

I don't think it is futile if the culprit doesn't accept it.  I really believe this has nothing at all to do with the culprits it's about finding a way forward for the victims of all this.

most definately...well put.

Well I hope his family do find the strength to move on with their lives.  It's difficult to know how you would react, you really have to be there but personally I don't think I would forgive and if they showed remorse I think I would suspect that they only feeling sorry for themselves.  I know I would carry on, always would for those I love, but the hatred for the total lack of regard for an innocent life would stay with me. 

oh I dont know... I would hope with every will in my body that I could and would forgive.

Its never just one life thats taken in these things... many (on both sides) are shattered.

for the sake of those left that I love.. I'd pray for the serenity of being able to forgive.
:(

I would not be able to forgive if it was an act of cold blooded murder. :( Which in this case it was.:(
An accident......................depending on circumstances.................YES I think I could.
But then again I dont know?

I hughly admire Anthony Walkers courageous family.

But I couldn't find it in my heart to forgive. Losing someone you love to an illness or accident is extremely hard to come to terms with :( But murder is so needless and sadistic.

No, I could never forgive anyone for deliberately taking my son's life , or that of anyone I loved. I'd be hard-pressed to forgive anyone who killed him by accident.

I'm not destined to be a saint.

I would never forgive anyone who deliberately set out to maim/kill my child.

I would find it extremely hard, perhaps even impossible to forgive anyone who hurt or killed my son on purpose or by accident, and I think anyone who can is incredible, and a much better person than I will ever be.

God forbid I am ever in that position, but no I don't think I would ever be able to forgive someone for doing that to my son.
I can see where Steve is coming from, but to me, there would be no punishment on earth that these people could get that would be harsh enough or cause them to feel the pain and the hurt that I was feeling.
God bless the Walker family for being so strong.

My thoughts are with the Walker Family :(

How devastating.  I too don't think I could ever forgive and certainly not forget. 

God Bless Anthony and keep him safe in heaven. :(

Hell would freeze over before I could forgive anybody that did that.

What was the verdict?  I hope that they both got found guilty!

Yep, both of them.

Michael Barton was found guilty but Paul Taylor had already pled guilty which I suppose is at least an admission of guilt.

I always used to think that...... but isnt it unfortunately usually the case they plead guilty to get a lesser sentence... and nothing to with their conscience??

Or you could look at it as getting a longer sentence if you won't own up :)

Thank you all for  your replies to this post I had to think about whether to post it or not with it being such  a very sensative subject.

Roni

I'd forgive them.

Right after I'd hunted them down and killed them myself for what they'd done.

:(

Daisy

This boy was chased, and axed in the head. It is a sickening, outragous, cowardly, despicable, cold-blooded act. Whilst I *might* be able to forgive *some* acts - this would be too much to ask. As a mother, I would not rest - and, as in previous cases, "justice" would simply not be enough.

I too am a mother - but copying what they did - for whatever reason - would NOT for me, honour the memory of my child. It also would not set an example for any other young people in the area - merely give an excuse for others to do the same.

I think that the mother's quiet composure - whatever her thoughts inside - sets the best example to others.

Daisy

I don't care what example it sets to others :) Its just the way I feel.

No doubt that the killers would say that hating blacks was just the way that they felt too :(

IMHO, no-one has a good reason to kill :(

Daisy

As far as I am aware, the attack has not yet been proved to be a racially motivated one.

Big difference between them attacking a boy for whatever reason, and a mother exacting revenge for the murder of a child.

I only caught a bit on the radio but I believe the judge has determined it was racial attack and to expect sentence to reflect this.
I can't see that killing people who kill can ever be regarded as civilised as it would make us the same as them.  Its enough for me to see justice carried out properly in a court of law and sentences passed set by our democratically elected Government, that to me is civilisation.

The judge said that this was purely a racial attack.

Of course there is a difference - but still no excuse for murder, particularly as you would be doing it intentionally, in cold blood. You would never justify it to yourself in the cold light of day nor justify it to your children.

Daisy

I must admit I agree with you Daisy but do believe there is an arguement for the death penalty in these sort of mindless brutal killings.

I for one could not forgive this if it happened to my children but I am not a forgiving person if somebody does anything nasty, vendictive or hurtful to me or my family. Luckily it hasn't happen at all often but if it has they know my feelings on the matter ;)

Lucy
xx

>arguement for the death penalty<

I think life in prison would be worse for the offenders than  a quick death,which in IMO is the easy way out! Though i doubt these 2 will spend their whole lives in jail,they will no doubt get paroled one day :(

I think i would want to forgive them,but i couldnt! I suppose i wouldnt rest easy until they faced the same fate as my child did,when it comes to my family it's an eye for an eye i'm afraid,prison just isnt punishment enough!

I agree,
I couldnt forgive them and if it took me 20 years I would get them back and they would pay big time.

I don't want the death penalty brought back because for a person to be locked up and later found to be innocent is one thing but if they have been sentenced to death that's something else.  What I would like to see ifor murderers and some others is that a sentence of life in prison means a sentence of life in prison and none of this life meaning 30 years or parole malarky and time off for good behaviour.  Lock them up and throw away the key.

edited to add - there seems to be too many luxuries these days.  Some prisoners seem to have a better standard of life than pensioners.

I hope that I could find it in my heart to forgive them - but I'm not sure that I could :(    Forgiveness does not condone the crime, nor will it "make everything better".    Even if I could forgive, I could never, ever, understand it.

Taking a life is wrong.   Taking another in recompense does not equalise it out.

I think that the Walker family may find peace.

Margot

I agree, Margot. What is done, is done - there is no going back. What is important is to make sure that the murderer(s) does not do it again and that the family are able to continue their lives as peacefully as possible. As someone said, forgiveness helps the victim's family NOT the murderer. From what has been said about him, I doubt that Anthony Walker would have wanted his family to exact revenge :) He sounded a forgiving sort of person too :)

Daisy

I'm very undecided about the death penalty. I do feel that it is the 'easy' option - far worse to spend the rest of one's life in prison. Of course, in this case, one of the men has pleaded guilty, so there is no doubt that he is guilty.

Daisy

I agree with ChloeH no way I would ever forgive someone for doing something like that to one of my children, I am not in the slightest aggressive but when it comes to my kids heaven help anyone who would ever try and hurt one of them.
Mary

I just heard on local news that trouble has erupted in liverpool..grafitti sprayed in the park where this dreadful crime happened....grrr police are now patroling..

Not surprised, unfortunately I was advised that this isn't the first time that racial hatred of this sort had happened!!

I could never forgive people like these two mindless thugs.  I just don't understand what drives people to be like this.

I live in an area which by the sounds of it is also having problems with racial abuse.  As a white person whose parents brought me up to respect everyone who respects me I just can't figure it out.  What is in their brains when they do this kind of thing?

Nurses working at my hospital who came from India etc. are wanting to leave due to the racial abuse that they are facing in their homes. 

This World is crazy sometimes and it's so saddening.