The Ability to Let Go

“Until Israelis and Palestinians are able to listen to one another, hear each other’s anguish and anger and make cognitive space for one another’s hopes, there is no way forward. One of the great stories of the Bible is about how King Solomon decided who was the real mother when two women came before him, each claiming that the baby in front of them was their child. The true mother, he understood, was the one who was prepared to give the child away rather than let it be killed. Love is more than possession; it is in part the ability to let go. Forgiveness is the ability to let go, and without it we kill what we most love. Every act of forgiveness mends something broken in this fractured world. It is a step, however small, in the long, hard journey to redemption.”

The Dignity of Difference, p. 161