If you’re like me – You believe in the faith-based and health-based reasons to practice forgiveness.
But have you ever considered that forgiveness might be an important leadership skill?
In the book Picking Cotton, two people share their true story:
- They are both 23.
- She’s white, a senior in college with a 4.0 and looking forward to starting her career, marrying her boyfriend and having a family.
- He is a person of color, working, and has a history of making some unwise choices.
One night she is at home alone and a man breaks into her apartment and rapes her.
She is able to escape and eventually identifies this man as her rapist.
He insists that she is mistaken.
She is convinced that her memory is correct and makes a strong witness for the prosecution.
He is convicted and goes to prison for 11 years. (In spite of the fact that he continually says he is innocent, in spite of the fact that he meets the man in prison that actually committed the crime, and in spite of the fact that his blood type does not match the blood type found at the scene.)