Self Destruction and Peace

The Self Destruction of Hatred and Peace of Forgiveness

by Andrew Creech

         In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom, Eddie, the main character, endured the consequences of hatred and reveled in the peace that he secured after forgiveness.  He had hated many people in his life and afterlife.  During his life, he hated his father and the four “crazies.”  In heaven, even for a short time, he hated his captain and Mickey.
         While he was on earth, Eddie’s father was drunk much of the time and beat him when he had bad luck in a card game.  He had originally cared for Eddie, saying that he was tough and his brother’s keeper, but after the war when Eddie crossed him, he stopped speaking to him.
         The others he hated on Earth here the four “crazies” from the war.  They had captured Eddie and some people from his troupe.  Eddie and his friends hated his captors and, after Rabozzo was shot, planned incessantly about escape.  When they finally got to escape, they killed their captors.  Eddie let his anger and hatred get a hold of him and pulverizes the enemy’s head with a brick.  A few minutes later, he nearly knocked out his friend in anger.
         When he gets to heaven, the first person he hates is his captain after he finds out that his captain was the person who shot his knee and forever damaged his life.  The captain allowed Eddie his anger and took Eddie’s beating, even though it did not hurt him
         The second person Eddie hates in heaven is Mickey, a close family friend.  Before Eddie’s father died, Mickey was drunk and attempted to rape Eddie’s mother.  When Ruby, his third person, shows Eddie this scene, he is enraged and blames his father for not letting Mickey drown or killing him on the shore, as he would have done.
         In each of these instances of hatred, Eddie either forgives the person and gets peace, or suffers indefinitely.  Eddie eventually forgives his father in heaven.  The others he hated on Earth, the “crazies,” he never forgave and so suffered all his life.  He continually had nightmares about the war.  If he had forgiven his captors, he could have recovered quicker and might have even stayed right with his father.
         The people he hates in heaven he finds easier to forgive.  After he realizes how his captain dies, getting blown 20 feet in the air in pieces.  When he finds out about Mickey, Eddie is unbelieving, but forgives him too when he realizes that Mickey was drunk at the time and before had gotten his father his job in the first place.
         In life in general, hatred has the same kind of self destructing consequences as in the story.  Take an abusive father or husband.  It can be so easy to hate him and run away, but very hard, if not impossible, to forgive him.  The peace, however, that comes from forgiveness is one of the best feelings in the world.  The best thing to remember is that hate is easy, and forgiveness is hard, but try to reverse those and it will change your life forever.