Forgiveness
Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Season 1, Episode 104 , Segment 1
Forgiveness, Learning Disabilities in College, and Iran
Episode: Forgiveness, Learning Disabilities in College, and Iran
- Jul 16, 2015 9:00 pm
- 26:20 mins
Guest: Dr. Everett Worthington Forgiveness is Top of Mind today. A dramatic example of it played out recently in a Utah courtroom when the widow of a slain police officer attended the sentencing hearing of 17-year-old Meagan Grunwald and asked the judge to go easy. Grunwald led police on an hours-long chase through Utah, driving a pick-up truck while her 27-year-old boyfriend shot at police officers through the rear window. The chase ended with the boyfriend dead, a police officer dead and another wounded. Grunwald was ultimately convicted of murder and faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judged handed down a more lenient sentence of 25-years-to-life, reflecting the sentiment of the slain officer’s widow who said to Grunwald at the hearing: “You are forgiven, sweet girl. I hope that one day you can forgive yourself.” We heard similar sentiments from victims’ families after the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. So forgiveness is on our minds today: how it helps to heal victims, criminals, and communities. Dr. Everett Worthington is a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a leading researcher on forgiveness. In the midst of his research, he was forced to confront his own ability to forgive, not once but twice.