Ghandi

There is a story about Gandhi that says during one of his famous hunger strikes a man came to beg him to eat.  This man pleaded with Gandhi saying he would stop fighting if only he would save himself and eat.  But Gandhi knew that this man was in much pain because the men he was fighting had killed his daughter. Gandhi told him he would only eat when this man embraced his enemy.  The poor tormented father dropped to his knees in tears.  How difficult it had to have been and yet he did as Gandhi ask.  Gandhi was such a wise sage.  He knew this man would never be whole again unless he faced his pain and learned to forgive.

That is what I am trying to do today.  For over two decades I have held disdain in my heart for my mother-in-law.  There had been times when that disdain turned into hatred.  You see, my mother-in-law was an alcoholic who introduced my son to the demon when he was only a child.  As a teenager he bragged that he could keep up with his grandmother's drinking.  Wow, was I supposed to be impressed?  My son is now 40 years old with a wife and two children depending on him.  He is constantly in my prayers.  He does not know how I worry that he will have an accident while driving home from the bar killing himself or someone else.  He does not know how concerned I am about the welfare of his children, my grandchildren.  For all these years I have blamed my mother-in-law for what my son has become.  I am now facing the truth.  My mother-in-law was an alcoholic.  She was not the mean wicked woman I saw.  That was the alcohol.  Alcoholism is a disease, a disease that is past down through the genes.  If she had not introduced him to alcohol, someone else would have.  I must now forgive her and stay strong and happy for my children and grandchildren.