A reason on why Simon should’ve forgiven the dying soldier is because one should forgive but not forget. Since Simon did not said a word to the SS man dying, Arthur talks to Simon as if he was a kid because he did not said anything. Arthur said “Death is our constant companion, have you forgotten than?” (Wiesenthal 69). Arthur says that we should not forigve because of the atrocities. It does not matter what “people have done to you yourself, you can, if you like forgive and forget” (Wiesenthal 65). When forgiving, there is an option to forget, but you don’t have to. You should be able to forgive “but this does not …show more content…
necessarily mean one should forget about the atrocities committed” (Lama 129). Forgive others to be happy with your life, but you won’t be able to forget about the bad behavior being committed towards you.
Religion is one of main part on why they should forgive because they’re similar to the Christians religion.
The Christians forgive every person that commits atrocities to other people. Judaism and Christianity have the same roots and same values which includes forgiveness. “It is a cardinal principle of Judeo-Christian ethics that forgiveness must always be granted to the sincerely repentant” (Flannery 136). It is necessary to forgive other people if one follows the Judeo-Christian religion . Most of the reasons to forgive it’s because of their religion. In order for them “to be truly Christian, we must forgive, plain, and simple, no matter who has been sinned against” (Fleischner 141). All Christians forgive no matter how bad the sin was. Simon was hoping to forgive him and “as an obstinate believer suggested to him that he make his peace with God by asking for his forgiveness” (Flannery 138). Simon did not forgive him, but hopes that God forgives him as
well.
While others may say that we should not forgive, forgiveness actually should have occurred. For example, Eugene J. Fisher claims, “But we have no right to put Jewish survivors in the impossible moral position of offering forgiveness, implicitly, in the name of the six million” (Fisher 132). Fisher has in mind that the Jewish should not forgive because of all the harm the Nazi’s committed to them. People may agree with him because what the SS officers did was completely wrong. However, Simon should’ve forgiven him because there’s no limit in forgiveness no matter how bad the atrocity was. Dalai Lama believes that “one should forgive the person or persons who have committed atrocities against oneself and mankind” (Lama 129). No matter how bad something has been made, you should still forgive because forgiveness has no limits. A question being ask on “whether there is a limit to forgiveness has been emphatically answered by Christ in the negative” (Konig 182). As Christ answered the question, there is no limits to forgiveness. We should forgive no matter how cruel a person did you.
Simon Wiesenthal should have forgiven the dying Nazi because everyone deserves forgiveness, there’s no limit on forgiving, and because of their religion. The most important was their religion. The Jews religion being similar to the Christians religion and they were capable to forgive the cruelty a Nazi committed to them. They’re supposed to forgive others in order for them to live with peace. There’s no limits to forgiveness no matter how cruel a person did you. Everyone makes mistakes that involve forgiveness. If you could be forgiven, then you should be able to forgive others for their bad acts.