Mandela showed the power of forgiveness

Had Northern Ireland’s attorney general John Larkin proposed ending Troubles-related prosecutions some weeks after the publication of Justice Peter Smithwick’s shocking report, his suggestion might not have provoked such a visceral, hostile but dispiritingly predictable response.

Had he made it as the great humanity, achievements, and legacy of Nelson Mandela were being celebrated all around the world, Mr Larkin might have justly expected an entirely different response because if Mandela did nothing else, he showed how forgiveness is the most powerful catalyst in the resolution of conflict. He showed how an open heart and the ability to cherish hope rather than sustain hatred — however dressed — is the best way to turn dysfunction into possibility.

The response to Mr Larkin’s proposal was, in general though not by any means universally, so very negative that the idea may have to wait despite the inevitability that it will come to pass either through the passage of time or by a conscious, courageous decision.