Reflection

Revenge never works. But in the case of Laura Blumenfeld, an American Jew, it did. Her story was featured over Primetime Thursday on ABC 7 last April 4, 2002. Her father, David Blumenfeld, was shot on the head by Omar Katib, a Palestinian Muslim. Fortunately, it was not fatal. She planned to get revenge against his father’s assailant. He was caught and put in prison awaiting trial. She sought the family of Omar Katib. Since she is a journalist, she pretended she was writing about him and got close to the family of Omar. They accepted her without knowing who she was. As she got their confidence, she started to correspond with her father’s shooter. Not only did she get to know well the family of the man who tried to kill his father, she also got a closer look into the man responsible for it. Her father, who lives in Glen Cove, New York, did not know what her daughter was doing.

At the court hearing, something unexpected happened. Laura spoke in behalf of Omar and said that she believed that Omar was sorry for what he did. The court tried to stop her saying she did not have any right to speak. She said she had every right and revealed she was the daughter of the victim. She faced Omar and told her about her plan to exact revenge and how, along the way, something else happened. She even brought her father to meet Omar’s family. The personal contact changed Omar Katib. He said: “People become different when they are near.” Laura Blumenfeld and her father also experienced transformation: “I was looking at him directly as if he was speaking directly to my heart.” In his prison cell, Omar Katib describes Laura Blumenfeld’s actions this way: “She chose the positive way of getting revenge. She succeeded.”

I think the “positive way of revenge” he refers to that Laura chose is what Jesus speaks of in the gospel today: forgiveness and reconciliation. There is a misconception that choosing forgiveness is choosing weakness of character. On the contrary, it is choosing strength of spirit. A person who has been inflicted harm has the right to choose and seek revenge. But he also has the choice to seek justice, founded on forgiveness and reconciliation, and thus, walk the path of peace. It’s a little selfish of us asking God to forgive us our sins and yet be unwilling to extend the same to others. God’s forgiveness is premised on our forgiveness of others. Unforgiveness is a prison we create and locked ourselves in. Forgiveness is a gift from God. As such we do not have the right to keep it for ourselves. It must be passed on to others as a gift, even if they are not worthy. For in truth, no one is. The death of Jesus makes us worthy. The truly courageous and spiritual choose the way of forgiveness. Vengeance and violence will only continue to injure an already wounded world.

Response

A proverb says: “When you seek revenge, dig two graves. One for the person you seek to hurt and the other one for yourself.”