The campaign draws to a close–the work continues
Monday, June 14th, 2010I have seen how the conversations can change hearts and attitudes.
–Conversation Facilitator
It’s hard to know what to write or where to start to tell you the campaign is coming to a close. Good-byes are difficult and awkward–often because it’s hard to let go of someone or something special and that is what this campaign has been.
From the introductory meeting, when sharing personal stories of love and forgiveness with colleagues seemed awkward at best, public television stations and their partners took the challenge to dive into uncharted territory and went for it. For four years, national and local campaign partners, and hundreds of brave individuals have come together to explore the power of love and forgiveness to impact our lives, our work, and our communities.
The Fetzer Institute began this project as an experiment to see how a series of focused conversations and accompanying activities might affect people’s understanding of and willingness to be more loving and forgiving toward themselves and others. Our research for year four is still being compiled, but based on year three research, 70% of those who participated in campaign conversations reported that they would be more likely to:
- Forgive themselves for mistakes
- Forgive others who are close to them
- Consider offering forgiveness as a response to a difficult situation
- Talk with friends about forgiveness or being more forgiving
- Choose to forgive someone rather than being angry at them
The campaign, like life, has come with hurdles and difficulties. I often say writing about love and forgiveness is the easy part, living it is much more challenging–all the more reason to forgive. But what the campaign reinforced for me is that we are all both imperfect and inextricably connected. Because of our imperfections, we’ll make mistakes and hurt each other, but if we can approach ourselves and others with kindness and compassion for these faults, foibles, and faux pas, we create the room to improve and to love ourselves and others more fully.
The campaign is ending this month, but the work will continue through the Fetzer Institute’s many initiatives and you who exemplify this work in your daily lives. We hope you’ll want to continue to stay connected with the Fetzer Institute. The campaign blog will be ending at the end of June, but this ending signals the beginning of a Fetzer blog, which will explore love, forgiveness, and compassion, include Fetzer activities, research, commentary, and more.
So maybe we won’t say good-bye, just yet. We will say thank you. Thank you for your love, forgiveness, and compassion. Thank you for your support and interest in the campaign. We are grateful to you for joining us in this great experiment and hope you’ll stay with us as it continues!













