Inspiration week: Napalm and forgiveness

I was driving home tonight slightly grumpy because of the minor brush fires I felt I’d been extinguishing all day at the office.  I had on All Things on Considered but was hardly listening.  There was far too much noise in my mind as I reflected on the day.  It’s summer, donors are on vacation, we’re maybe in a recession, gas prices are all anyone talks about, and business just seems tougher than usual.  It’s all getting on my nerves.

And then I heard this woman speaking on the radio.  And I listened to every word until I was in tears.

It was Kim Phuc, the woman from that horrible picture from the Vietnam War.  She is in that iconic photograph running naked from a napalm-bombing attack near Saigon.  She was telling her story for the series, This I Believe.

Kim Phuc told the story of watching her clothes burn from her body at age nine, the same age as the daughter I drove to sleepaway camp for the first time yesterday.  She speaks of knowing in that minute that her life was changed, that she would be horribly scarred and different forever.  She lived through 17 surgeries in 14 months.  She talks of wanting to be a doctor but the government took her from school to make her a political symbol.  She lost everything.

She says:

The anger inside me was like a hatred as high as a mountain. I hated my life. I hated all people who were normal because I was not normal. I really wanted to die many times.

Then she speaks of how she overcame that mountain with forgiveness.  That is what she believes—she believes in forgiveness.

She said,

Napalm is very powerful but faith, forgiveness and love are much more powerful. We would not have war at all if everyone could learn how to live with true love, hope and forgiveness. 
If that little girl in the picture can do it, ask yourself: Can you?

I have never felt more forgiving in my life.  Or as inane for my worries when I got in the car.  Or as grateful for extraordinary people that remind us that life is about such vastly bigger, simpler things.

I declare this week inspiration week.  I feel we all need it right about now.  Each day, I’ll try to share someone or something I find inspiring.  And a good place to start is someone who inspires us to forgive ourselves and others. 

Please take five minutes and listen to it here (you can read it, but click to listen to the recording to hear her voice - it’s the best way to experience this story).  It is worth every last second of your time, particularly if you are feeling unforgiving.  Or just grumpy.  It will all go away when you listen to Kim Phuc.