17-18year olds answers to: Revenge, justice, reconciliation &/or forgiveness; with which do you agree and why?

17-18year olds answers to: Revenge, justice, reconciliation &/or forgiveness; with which do you agree and why? (Linked to Characters in a play)

One of our grade 12 set-works in Dramatic Arts is “Nothing But The Truth” by John Kani. I was blown away at the maturity and insight shown by my learners in their answers. They are mixed race, but the majority is Black-African. It is WONDERFUL to see that there is a generation coming up who understand how to move on from the past and build a better future. In the context of some Black-African students currently wanting to ‘erase’ South African History due to their personal agendas and inability to forgive and learn and grow and move on, these answers from my learners were a true blessing to read. Finally, some sense in the context of “Our Country”. Enjoy the read. (I have left them mostly unedited from the exam scripts; they are in no prescribed ‘order’ at all)

• I am a firm believer in forgiveness. If the oppressed got up and started to do the same thing that was done to them it would just be a never-ending cycle and we would all just feed on hate.
• Reconciliation, because how do you expect to get over something if you always hold a grudge about it? How will violence make anything better, because you are just as bad as the other person? Take the information and truth you have and forgive that person and try to move on with your life now, knowing the full story.
• Revenge is no use, because it doesn’t make you a good person either, because you won’t be different from the other people who killed other humans.
• When you understand what has happened and how you feel about that exposed truth, then you are able to accept the truth, acknowledge it and thereafter move on, knowing that it has happened and it is time to move on from that point.
• It is always good to forgive, people shouldn’t be judged for what they did in the past.
• Confessing things takes courage. It isn’t easy trying to move on, but knowing that all is forgiven will make your journey seem clearer because then your conscience is clean. It also gives other people closure to have the real truth.
• In the play Thando says, “We could have gone for revenge…but how would that have made us different from them?” I agree with this because getting revenge could not satisfy your feelings and emotions. It just makes you more angry and it shows others that you are weak mentally.
• Confess and speak nothing but the truth. Revenge is not always the solution to every problem, that is why you have to be a better person.
• It’s about African Humanity / Ubuntu. We are one, no matter the colour of our skin, we need to be kind to each other as one nation.
• Everything deserves justice, truth and forgiveness. I believe that you can’t get anywhere in life if you hold grudges and you can’t get anywhere if you aren’t being real with certain situations in your life, you won’t go anywhere if you’re still holding on.
• Our country wouldn’t have achieved our democracy if it wasn’t for reconciliation, truth, amnesty and forgiveness, and also peace.
• Forgiveness is the key to a clear start and moving on. Forgiveness should come from within in order to create the capability to move on. If we carry out heavy burden of pains from the past with us in the present and the future, then we will always be influenced negatively by those burdens and this won’t assist anyone in any way. There will be no change in societies; there will be no better outcomes. But truth be told, forgiveness doesn’t come easily or quickly, but it is needed for a brighter future.
• What happened, happened in the past, now it’s the present with its new generation and people need to be united as one and live for tomorrow.
• Throwing back the bad to the bad is like throwing petrol on to a fire – it only makes it worse. In any situation, not only apartheid, one has to be the bigger person, and by that I mean stop showing others that you are fighting back and make them feel bad by calming down. That brings peace.