Monday, October 10, 2011

Lessons in Forgiveness from Take That

I was struck by this part of an interview with Gary Barlow in the Radio Times, talking of the moment he and Robbie Williams decided to make up:

"..I was 38 and he was 34 – and it’s like, ‘Let’s talk this through.’ All those years I’d just imagined this moment to actually be sat there opposite this person who’d said so much worse than anybody else had ever in my life. Done so much damage and said so much bad stuff.”

To your face?

“No, that was the thing. Not to my face. In records and in print.”

What hurt him most?

“Nothing hurt me most, it was the way it was being done I didn’t like. And to eventually be sat there opposite the person was liberating. And you know what? A lot of people don’t get that chance; they spend their whole lives as enemies and don’t talk. So for me that was a victorious day. And we came back to it a couple of days later and did some more and then we were washed and we were clean.”

Fantastic. It's liberating to forgive, and to be forgiven. Heard that before somewhere... It takes courage from both sides to face up to things like this. I'm aware both of a need to deal with things from the past, but also of a fear which stops me from doing it.

2 comments:

  1. Very well said that It takes courage from both sides to face up to things like this.Its really difficult to say all what you have in your heart to your enemey.If you say enemity is washed away.
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  2. This is so true. The story of reconciliation between Gary and Robbie is touching. I love the song they wrote about it, "Shame". It's something we can all learn from. Forgiveness speaks Jesus like nothing else.

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