Dear Editor,
The last thing you need after you have been struck by a minibus is your phone stolen. Living in Guyana, you hear some horrible stories and you go through some heart-wrenching life’s experiences. A few months ago my niece was struck by a reckless minibus driver. During the accident, her phone was stolen. Recently, we were able to find the person who stole the phone. When we went to pick up the phone, we were sure that we wanted the thief to go to prison and to lose her job. We were angry that the thief would take advantage of a vulnerable victim. My niece was almost killed in the accident and to have her phone stolen on top of the accident was hard to believe that the thief would steal her phone.
We wanted revenge, justice, and we wanted the thief to pay for stealing the phone by going to prison. After we met the thief and heard her story, we had a change of heart. Her story, like many working class women in Guyana, was horrifying and terrifying to hear. She’s a public servant with a somewhat decent professional job but a small salary. She is currently experiencing domestic violence, and is a single parent with small children and little financial assistance from the fathers. This part of her story was what broke me: To earn extra money to provide for her children, she sends explicit pictures of herself to men. All of these pictures were taken with our phone.
After hearing about her horrific experiences and struggles, I was sympathetic to her. The anger I was feeling towards her slowly disappeared. Anger was replaced with empathy. The need for revenge was replaced with mercy. The need for justice was replaced with grace. The need for punishment was replaced with pardon. The hate I felt towards her was replaced with love. What I learned from this experience, I must not be too quick to judge. Before I judge, I must listen to the perpetrator’s story. I must put myself in the thief’s shoes. I must ask myself if I was in her shoes, would I do the same thing. I must understand that people thief because they may not have a choice.
To be clear, I am not justifying or excusing what she did. I am not saying that she shouldn’t face any consequences. What I am saying is that the punishment must not fit the crime. I am saying that given her personal and financial struggles she should not be punished severely unless she is a re- offender. Everybody makes mistakes, and they should not be punished severely for their first mistake. I make mistakes. Put in a similar situation to her, I may have done the same thing. After wrestling with my decision to forgive her, I asked myself: “What would Jesus do” in this situation and that was when I had a change of heart and decided to forgive her.
Sincerely,
Anthony Pantlitz
