In the last post “Telling stories” I had reported a little about how difficult it is for people in a shame culture to admit guilt. In order not to have to do this, people go different ways. One possibility is to tell stories.
In the article “What a miracle” I had reported about the terrible accident of our car. A young man had overestimated himself, had fallen asleep, strayed from the road and rolled over several times with 7 people in the car.
So he had become guilty.
I hadn’t written about how this was to be solved.
Our son-in-law prepared me for this. “Daddy,” he said, “the driver’s brother or father will come and ask you for forgiveness. Then you have to forgive him for destroying your car.”
I replied that it was not my brother or father who was guilty. Yes, it wouldn’t be the two of them, so they could easily admit it and ask for forgiveness so that the driver gets forgiveness without asking for it.
Wow, what a ritual!
We prayed that the young man would be able to come himself. So it came at the end and we had a good time with many tears and hugs together.
In the end, the young man had been able to experience a real liberation from guilt.
