The Circle Syndrome

Tell a boy he is a bad boy often enough, and pretty soon, he will begin to believe it himself. Call a man a crook long enough, and treat him like an animal, and more than likely he will live up to your expectations. Treat people with suspicion, and soon you will find reason to justify your suspicions.

How do you break the vicious circle? Jesus broke it many years ago, when after he had been hung upon a cross, with tear‑filled eyes he said, "Father, forgive them, all of them, for they know not what they do."

We build walls between ourselves and those around us. Between denominations, between nations, between races, between the rich and the poor. How childish, really! Robert Frost in his little poem called "Mending Wall" says, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that sends the frozen ground‑swell under it, and spills the upper boulders in the sun; and makes gaps even two can pass abreast."

We may not like walls, but we build them, nonetheless. The apostle Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother. He suggested maybe 7 times, thinking he was being magnanimous. But Jesus suggested that we must keep forgiving even to infinity.

You see, the Christian is obligated to forgive. With us, it is not optional. We have to forgive, or run the risk of not being forgiven by the Heavenly Father. We are reminded of it in the Lord's prayer when we say, "Forgive us as (in proportion to) we forgive others."

When we are hurt, retaliation is never the answer...forgiveness is. The little person kicks back. But, as Francis Bacon once said, "It is the prince's part to pardon."

Will it work? We quickly ask: "Has any other way ever worked?" Forgiveness has been commissioned to the Christian world. John Morley, commenting on Gladstone's wonderfully constructive handling of an extortioner and on his readiness to forgive, wrote: "There was no worldly wisdom in it, we all know. But then what are people Christians for?"

Badness has a way of coming around. Do evil to others, and it returns to you. But goodness comes around too. "Cast your bread upon the waters," and in many ways, and after many days, somehow it brings the goodness back to you. There is a kind of "circle syndrome". I'd like to believe that the Lord knew the answer when he told us we must "love one another"...and that ultimately this "circle", the "circle of love" will become more powerful, and overcome the "circle of evil." Sometimes there is no worldly wisdom to it...but then, what are people Christians for?