Blue Diary

I just read a book called ‘Blue Diary’ by Alice Hoffman.  Although I found my head could drift odd in its descriptions quite easily and imagine the world that was being described, it too me a good few chapters to get into it.  By the end however I was rather gripped to read the final chapter.  I really liked this paragraph, especially the same sky above our heads bit…

"I can see how hurt shes been.  Shes a human being now with tears that bleed red.  she tells me I have no idea what real love it like.  She says love is a pledge that can never be broken, but I know nothing stays the same.  When you lose somebody you think you’ve lost the whole world as well, but thats not the way things turn out in the end.  Eventually, you pick yourself up and look out the window and once you do you see everything that was there before the world ended is still out there.  There are the same apple trees, and the same songbirds, and over our heads, the very same sky that shines like heaven, so far above us we can never hope to reach such heights’

This book is about a man who rapes a young girl who lives on a farm, and accidently kills her, but does not get caught, then spends the next 20 years of his life being the perfect citizen of a small country town, trusted by all the local residents, obiding by every rule and law, going to church etc, until eventually, after having a wife and child of his own, his past actions catch up with him…

That book made me think, would you forgive and forget or are some things people do in life so bad, that even if they’ve lived an honest and honourable life every day for 15 years,does that make up for the hell that may have put not only an individual through, by raping them, but also their friends and family who have to live and cope with the consequences and hell of his actions.  I’m a big believer in practicing forgiveness, but thats usually on small grievances.  But if someone has tried to rise above their past sins and become a better person, should they still be punished for what they have done years ago?

Its a tough one…..