The Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal Sparknotes

Introduction In the book The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, Wiesenthal talks about his experience with a former Nazi soldier named Karl. Karl confesses to Simon his sins and crimes he has committed against the Jewish people throughout his life as a part of the Nazi regime. Karl also states that he can not die in peace without the forgiveness of a Jew. After an intricate confession, Simon leaves the room without uttering a word about forgiveness. This event haunts Simon long after, ask he continually asks the question “Should I have forgiven him?” In this essay, I explore the concept of forgiveness and write my own opinion on what forgiveness really means.

One Problem; Hundreds of Solutions After listening to Simon Wiesenthal’s story,

Fr. Augustine answered many of my questions. He also talked about something the other sources barely touched on, forgiving yourself. There are many quotes in the Bible about the importance of forgiveness, such as “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:32. This is a famous quote, but the true meaning of it is often overlooked. Jesus has just asked his Father to forgive the men who murdered his only son. Though Jesus is God and had to die on the cross to save our sins, Jesus was also setting an example for us. He was showing us no matter how big the sin is, He will always forgive us, and we should also forgive our fellow brothers and sisters. Our goal is life is to become more Christlike, so one way to do this is forgive each other, something God does every day. Fr. Augustine also gave us his own definition of forgiveness. Forgiveness is surrendering my right to hurt you or harm you for hurting me. When someone does something bad to us, it causes us to have negative emotions such as the desire to retaliate. Forgiveness brings us freedom from all the negative effects of that bad experience. Like I stated earlier, forgiveness is a part of love. God made us to love, so we were also made to forgive. Though forgiveness has all of these positive effects on us and the sinner, people also make excuses on why they won’t forgive someone. A common

Abbot Iscu was basically murdered by this officer, yet he still decided to forgive him. Abbot Iscu knew he was going to go to Heaven and had no reason to relieve this officer. Why did he do it then? Forgiveness isn’t an ordinary act, but a necessary part of life. Without forgiveness, the world would be a terrible place, full of hatred and revenge. In addition, there is never a time when it is too hard to forgive, no matter what the person has done. This communist officer tortured Abbot Iscu and probably many other Christians. There is no sin harder to forgive than murder. Moreover, the Abbot was on the brink of death, bleeding from his wounds and tired from the torture he had received. He couldn’t even walk to the officer’s cell. The best thing the Abbot could have done for himself was rest, but he didn’t. He asked other prisoners to carry him to the communist and listened to him confess all of his sins. This man used his last moments in life to forgive the sins of his murderer. To me, that is true