Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

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180 farther horizons
For the Amish, forgiveness is “just standard Christian forgiveness,”
but its Biblical roots are in the practice of Gelassenheit, which can
be translated as “yieldedness” or “submission” and acceptance of
God’s will (Kraybill, 100).
The example of the Amish of Nickel Mines is only one example
of applied grace. Others can be drawn from other times, cultures,
and religious traditions. In Buddhism, for example, compassion
is expressed as empathy, “our ability to enter into and, to some
extent, share others’ suffering” (Dalai Lama, 1999, p. 123). But most
religions support the kind of grace shown by the Amish at Nickel
Mines and the belief that vengeance is not ours to exact.
In the years of the long emergency there will be much to forgive.
We may plausibly expect future wars over water and energy.
Millions of climate refugees will cross international borders. If
governments fail to act, or fail to act wisely and fairly, violence and
economic turmoil could spiral out of control. Civility and kindness
will become more diffi cult in hotter and stormier times. In
contrast to the Amish, the larger society has not always nurtured
the qualities of neighborliness, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness
that will be sorely needed in the long emergency. All of which
is to say that we will need not only the right policies and better
technologies but what Anita Roddick calls “a revolution in kindness”
and a generosity of spirit that allows us to gracefully forgive
and to be forgiven (Roddick, 2003). And we can hope that our
grandchildren and theirs will one day forgive our callousness and
dereliction when we knew what we were doing.