Azim Khamisa lost his son Tariq to murder at the hands of a gun held by Tony, who was as a new gang member, fulfilling his gang initiation ritual.
Today Plez, the grandfather of Tony, and Tony, Azim’s son’s killer, are together walking together, teaching our children the dangers of gangs and the gift of empathy, non-violence and forgiveness.
Azim reached out in forgiveness to the grandson and guardian of Azim’s son’s killer over 25 years ago, “my son died, but your son went as the first 14-year-old to an adult prison, so we’ve both lost our sons. You are I are both tied to this tragedy for the rest of our lives.” So how can we make sure that no child ever makes the same mistake.
Plez took Azim’s hand in forgiveness and said, “ever since I found out Tony was responsible for your son’s death, I’ve been praying for you and your son’s family. Of course, I will help you!”
Since losing his son, that one act of forgiveness has touched over one million children’s lives, who have experientially witnessed the gift of forgiveness, the spirit of love, and forgiveness in action and have learned the tools of empathy and the power of forgiveness.
Sometimes as a society, we’ve judged certain “unthinkable” acts as unforgivable. Could you forgive your child’s killer?
The truth is the love that we withhold is the pain that we suffer.
If we all do not know what we do not know until we do, then what will it take for us to remove the plank from our own eyes to realize by examining our own hearts until it become self-evident, that we all bear the cross of killing people off whether that be in our judgment, through our unforgiveness, when the truth is that our prison lives within our own ignorance and conditioning that is bound within the lies of our shared Separation Story? Within this story, we have all played the role of victim, and we have all been a perpetrator and have betrayed and wounded others?
Liberation begins as you witness how easy it is to get locked into unforgiveness and patterns of judgment. When we get locked into judgment and stories that feed separation, we deny the very love and healing that is infinitely unbound when we choose love and forgiveness, over the pain of separation. When we look for, and see from within our heart, love beyond condition is truly blind. Forgiveness and healing are the gifts that tragedy, loss, and pain actually serves in our awakening, both individually and collectively, as we turn within our hearts of love to serve that loss by helping others to awaken through compassion’s empathy, which is the antidote to healing our broken hearts.
We all have been deeply scarred by our shared core wounds of separation. We all do not know what we do not know until we do, so who can throw the first stone.
And, even if within your “righteous anger” you may feel you could throw the first stone, in the false belief of “an eye for an eye,” but if we stay locked within a system that cheers restitution, rather than restoration through love, how will that build the world and future worth choosing to live as peace, in harmony, as love embodied?
Nothing in life happens to us. Everything in life is happening for us… for the awakening of our hearts to know love beyond condition.
What will our world look like with when we have a compassion race rather than an arms race?
Begin the journey of forgiveness. All forgiveness begins with self-forgivness.
We are the answer to the soulutions we’ve been praying for!