Thurs., July 26, 2007, New York. Yesterday, French television interviewed the 6 prisoners (5 Bulgarian nurses and 1 Lebanese physician) who were just released from Libya, after being held captive for accidently infecting over 400 Libyan children with the AIDS virus 8 years ago.
During one of the interviews, an intriguing feature emerged: Forgiveness is not only a samarital act, but a tool of self-survival.
The eldest of the 5 nurses, who is in her early 50s, was asked about being periodically tortured, a subject that was difficult for all of the ex-prisoners to broach. When asked how she felt, she replied that she held no feelings of revenge and that she had already forgiven her captors.
"I would not be here now if I had not forgiven them," she said, implying she would not have had the strength to survive had she spent what little energy she had left in bitterness or revenge.
