Forgiveness Is Good But Can Be Risky

Uganda's Okello Christopher Onyum's story, the man accused of killing four toddlers in Ggaba Daycare horror, reminds me of the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

Okello reportedly first murdered someone in 2018. A woman claiming to be Okello's stepmother alleged that in 2018, Okello strangled her 15-month-old son, Newman, and that he subsequently fled to the United States. Okello was allegedly forgiven by the stepmother, and the police ignored the case.

Another woman from Bwaise alleged her 1-year-and-three-month-old son, Freeman, died under similar suspicious circumstances involving Okello in 2018. Again, there was some understanding allegedly reached, Okello was again forgiven, and he eventually left for the USA.

In this year's incident, Okello is accused of posing as a parent to gain access to a nursery school, where he stabbed four children to death—Ryan Odeke (2), Eteku Gideon (2), Kaise Alungat (2), and Ignatius Sserwange (3).

Similarly, in May 1944, Nathuram Godse led a group of twenty young men and rushed towards Gandhi carrying knives. The crowd contained and disarmed Godse, and Gandhi told them to let the men go, declining to press charges.

In September 1944, Godse made another attempt, this time leading a group of men to block Gandhi’s group from passing a road — he was arrested by police, found to have a dagger on his person and quite literally told police of his intentions to kill Gandhi. Gandhi heard of what occurred and intervened on Godse’s behalf, and he was let go again.

Finally, on January 30, 1948, Godse found himself face-to-face with Gandhi. This time, he carried a gun rather than a knife or dagger, and he fired three bullets into Gandhi’s chest.The latter fell and died instantly. And yes, he was too forgiving — you could argue that it was his forgiveness that killed him.

Nathuram Godse believed himself to be completely justified and wrote a manifesto defend his decision — I have seen his justifications, and it makes for an interesting read. He basically felt that Gandhi was dooming Hindus and Hinduism by encouraging them to be forgiving even to those who actively sought to destroy and defile them.

Gandhi’s family wanted to forgive the assassin, though the Indian Government — obviously not seeing things in the same light — declined, and had Godse hanged.

I'm not against forgiving people, but there's a difference to forgiving a genuine person's mistake compared to forgiving a pshycopath who doesn't have their brain wired to comprehend what forgiveness is.

When I was in high school, a youth who had in the past lived with us because his family were struggling, snuck into our home at night with the intention of bringing his gang friends to steal from us. He fell asleep in the middle of the night and couldn't open for his mates. So, we luckily caught him in the morning when we woke up to pray,but our grandfather forgave him and let him go.

He did it again after a year, and this time, he succeeded - he let his gang in the house. We nearly lost our grandparents on that day as they were both butchered and hit on the head.

As a kid, I was taught that forgiveness is always the best policy, and I still believe in it. However, the world has changed so much, and the word “sorry” has become almost meaningless because the people who usually say it the most are the ones we fear the most.

I’m not saying that you should never forgive people, but it’s important to know when you’re being used. When a dog has gone astray, it's sometimes OK to put it down.

That being said, I think it’s okay if you have a bit of trouble forgiving people, as long as you try to forgive those who deserve it. I'm still against the death penalty, though.

Abbey .K. Semuwemba