Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Forgiveness is when you stop the need for revenge or a grudge on someone and Reconciliation is when two people disagree/split and then decide to forgive and get back together/reunite. In Sikhism we believe that if you do bad there is always time to change your ways and do good. You should forgive someone if they are really sorry for what they did. Sikhism is a peaceful religion and does not believe in revenge and is taught to be immoral. A quote which is said in the Guru Granth Sahib say ‘Why blame other people? I have to blame my own actions; as I have acted, so are the fruits’. This means that when people do something wrong they are usually scared that they won’t have won’t have forgiveness and attempt to blame it on other people. So what this teaches is that in order to gain forgiveness and reconciliation, you need to first realise what you have done and always tell the truth. Another quote is ‘Give up bad actions and only do good ones.’ This is a teaching from the Guru Granth Sahib and it means, if you have do bad in your life start doing good and God will forgive. Another teaching from the Guru Granth Sahib says ‘Forgiveness is fundamentally a moral relation between self and others. Where there is Forgiveness, there is God. This means, if you are forgiven by someone then God exists. It is a moral to forgive someone.
There is not much difference between forgiveness and reconciliation but it is almost like one action broken in two parts. For example, when two people have a fight, the first step after the fight is for one person to forgive the other. After that part, the next part is for the two people to reconcile with each other. If I am in conflict with someone I try to forget but I wait for the other person to say sorry or I try to sort out the problem. However, the way I handle conflicts depends on the situation. For example, last year someone insulted the turban and I was very offended. However, I did not start a physical argument, instead, I told someone who had more authority to handle the situation and they did. After the problem had been solved I forgave the person as he was my friend and I did not want to ruin the friendship.
By Amrit Khasbia
Forgiveness is when you stop the need for revenge or a grudge on someone and Reconciliation is when two people disagree/split and then decide to forgive and get back together/reunite. In Sikhism we believe that if you do bad there is always time to change your ways and do good. You should forgive someone if they are really sorry for what they did. Sikhism is a peaceful religion and does not believe in revenge and is taught to be immoral. A quote which is said in the Guru Granth Sahib say ‘Why blame other people? I have to blame my own actions; as I have acted, so are the fruits’. This means that when people do something wrong they are usually scared that they won’t have won’t have forgiveness and attempt to blame it on other people. So what this teaches is that in order to gain forgiveness and reconciliation, you need to first realise what you have done and always tell the truth. Another quote is ‘Give up bad actions and only do good ones.’ This is a teaching from the Guru Granth Sahib and it means, if you have do bad in your life start doing good and God will forgive. Another teaching from the Guru Granth Sahib says ‘Forgiveness is fundamentally a moral relation between self and others. Where there is Forgiveness, there is God. This means, if you are forgiven by someone then God exists. It is a moral to forgive someone.
There is not much difference between forgiveness and reconciliation but it is almost like one action broken in two parts. For example, when two people have a fight, the first step after the fight is for one person to forgive the other. After that part, the next part is for the two people to reconcile with each other. If I am in conflict with someone I try to forget but I wait for the other person to say sorry or I try to sort out the problem. However, the way I handle conflicts depends on the situation. For example, last year someone insulted the turban and I was very offended. However, I did not start a physical argument, instead, I told someone who had more authority to handle the situation and they did. After the problem had been solved I forgave the person as he was my friend and I did not want to ruin the friendship.
By Amrit Khasbia