Monday, January 09, 2017

Offering Peace

There was an episode of Chicago Med the other day in which two professional cage fighters were brought in who had beaten each other into bloody pulps. They and their managers were shouting threats and insults and there was risk of mayhem – it was all very dramatic. When all was said and done, one of the fighters was patched up and discharged and the other had sustained a brain hemorrhage and was laying on life support and being declared beyond recovery.

The Muslim family, parents and brother, of the fallen fighter were with him, praying together, when the other fighter returned. It turned out he wanted to know if the guy was okay and was devastated to find out he was not. He was breaking down and in tears, saying that he was sorry and saying tearfully “I don’t know what to do.”

The brother was angry and making threats and the father came out of the room and gently told him to stop. He held out his hand to the fighter and said, “Come, will you pray with us?” The two of them walked slowly back into the room and were standing side by side at the bedside, looking together down at the man on life support.

It was fiction, yes, but very powerful. I am always profoundly moved when one person reaches out to another with an offer of forgiveness and reconciliation; an act which brings peace to mind and spirit. Life offers no finer moment.

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