The Forgiveness of the Mel

Mel Gibson the subject of many a personal rant.  His high profile fall from grace has been the stone on which haters and hero killers have been grinding the edge of their headsman's axes.  People are upset that he slurred the Jewish people.  Fact - he was drunk and if we start holding everyone to what they say when they're drunk, we are going to have a lot of people eating non-food items.  What nobody seems to be upset with is that he was driving!  A public menace!  But what are we worried about - a drunken insult?

But I digress.  Several celebrities have stepped up to bat for Mel.  The latest being Robert Downey, Jr. - a man whose descent into drugs cost him time in prison.  But we forgave him.  Maybe because he didn't have an ethnic high. In any case, he recently made a plea to a gathering of power players in Hollywood for forgiveness.  A rabbi from the Simon Wiesenthal Center responded that if Mel wants forgiveness he needs to ask for it himself.  Sounds common sensical, doesn't it?

But wait!  Lets talk about forgiveness.  This isn't something that the dear rabbi can give and it certainly isn't something one can demand.  Forgiveness comes from God.  Perhaps that is a crucial difference between the belief systems of the Jewish faith and Christianity.  "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."  Of course we've seen many Christians mess this one up as well.  I'm looking at you, Reverend Jackson.  I'm not sure where these people think they get their power to speak for God and their respective races/creeds/religions/sexual orientation/whatever.  They take offense at any perceived slight and hold the offender's public reputation hostage until they are placated.  For you and me that probably doesn't mean too much, but for Mel and other public figures, that could mean the end of their careers.  They are essentially blackballed from their professions.  Anybody remember Fatty Arbuckle?

But the purpose of forgiveness is for the forgiver as much as it is for the forgivee.  Not only does it qualify one for their own forgiveness, but it softens their hearts and cleanses them of hate.  And isn't getting rid of hate what this is all about?

My advice to the rabbi: publicly forgive Mel.  If he truly is an anti-semite (which I doubt), it will show the world who is the better man and Mel will deserve his shame.  If not, then he deserves the forgiveness that you think you can withhold.  Ultimately, however, it is God who will forgive.  I realize these are Christian tenets, but Gandhi, a Hindu, realized that an eye for eye makes the whole world blind.  (It was Gandhi, wasn't it?)  Let's heal the wounds that have plagued us for centuries, real or imaginary, and cross the divide.  Live and let live.  And let Mel be.  If we can forgive a wanted child rapist and give him an Oscar (I realize some, including the US government, have not forgiven Roman Polanski, but his victim has), why can't we forgive Mel?