Forgiveness is a powerful healer.

I know I am not alone in feeling so very saddened by the apparent disregard some humans have (one would hope only a tiny minority) for other creatures that share our environment. The recent slaughter of seals on the Kaikoura coast leaves the vast majority (I hope) incredulous that anyone could kill so many (over 20 and counting) so cruelly and for no apparent reason.

Wild creatures going about their business already have to live the best they can whilst we influence their environments and sometimes even destroy them completely for our own benefit. Most don't have the capacity to adapt to change as fast as we do. "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." Charles Darwin.

Companion animals like dogs, cats and many others too serve humans in an exchange every animal lover values deeply. To cut off a puppy's ears with sissors or to burn a dog alive in it's kennel as happened in Tauranga recently too must surely be a sign of ignorant people who have no understanding or awareness of the responsibility they have that goes hand in hand with freedom to choose their actions. Our visceral anger and the upset this behaviour has evoked is a great sign from my view. The emotions are indicative of the affront to our values as a society. Our outrage probably won't transform the perpetrators though. Do you think they can even care what we think and feel?

Whilst our responses to each other's actions help us define or confirm what we personally believe and value, we must acknowledge that it is parents and caregivers that are raising our children, raising the seedling children that will one day have the power to deliberately choose their own actions in life. Clearly some are growing up without the necessary brain connections that come from the healthy attachments that create deeply embedded connections in our developing brain. These form the foundations of our capacity for empathy, respect and compassion in our psychology. Maybe these people are conforming to some other driver - peer pressure, twisted logic or some other unfathomable motivation. If so, they won't be feeling too good about themselves and what they have done. If it was funny at the time I bet it isn't now. If they were egged on by others maybe now they are wondering at their actions. I truly hope so because if they are they can change, make different choices.

We humans make mistakes. Period. We also learn fastest by imitation. When we know these things and accept them - like Emma Woods did when her 4 year old was run over in front of her - we can make a choice that uplifts us and minimises suffering. Woods has been named NZ Herald New Zealander of the year - because she forgave the young driver who killed her son. Her demonstration to us all of the power of forgiveness and her acknowledgement that it is simply the way that has worked for her, is powerful testimony to emotional maturity and conscious awareness in the face of the worst heart and gut wrenching experience.

How tragic the people who walk a path of cruelty and the relationship with life that goes with that. It can't be pleasant deep down. Imagine having to live with yourself knowing you had killed those seals or harmed those dogs. We have likely all made choices we came to regret, especially in our youth.

I guess its up to us to realise we can choose in any moment to use those choices, who we have become and what we have experienced as a platform to stand on going forward - to redeem ourselves and find our way to our own blossoming - even if the growth comes as a result of our own worst mistakes and choices.

Forgiveness is a powerful healer. Whilst our behaviour can be deemed inexcusable at times, our forgiveness can melt the hardest hearts and repair damaged souls. Thank you Emma Woods for showing the way.

And that's it, from my view.
Amanda