Sunday Focus: Forgiving George.

Wallace's wheelchair after he was shot in 1972.

     I never had an in-depth interview with Governor George Wallace. 
     I arrived in Alabama too late, and too far from the Montgomery power structure. But he was a part of my life as an Alabama journalist from my arrival in 1976 and beyond  his death in 1998.  His shadow is still visible to me as I cover stories centered on Alabama History.
     That shadow slowed Alabama's growth for decades.
     Many people who were wounded by Wallace's history have forgiven him. A Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest, Fr. Matt Malone, Editor of the publication America, The National Catholic Review, wrote about Wallace and forgiveness over the weekend in a column that I recommend for those who, like myself, find it difficult to let go of the hate of his hate. He writes, quoting Doctor King in 1957:

“Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.”

     
  

The dress worn by Cornelia Wallace the day of the shooting.

   Let me steal the words of the U.S. Secret Service agent who was wounded along with Wallace in Laurel, Maryland that day. In 2012, I asked Nick Zarvos* what he would say to the shooter,  Arthur Bremer, if he had the chance. "I would say I forgive him, and I have."
   George Wallace certainly never needed my forgiveness. But perhaps I need to give it. And I do.

(*Watch my 2012 interviews on the 40th anniversary of the shooting HERE. Agent Zarvos died in April of 2014.)

[Sunday Focus is a regular feature of www.TimLennox.com]