Day 75: Lessons of Forgiveness via Pink Floyd

It always amazes me when I hear stories of forgiveness that has taken years to accomplish. This past week proved to a be a big news week as David Gilmour and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd decided to work together again. Here is a clip from Roger Water's Facebook.

"In the wake of that evening, someone, I think it was David himself, came up with this 'Wouldn't it be funny', idea. What if he (David that is) were to sing the old Teddy Bears song 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' with me (Roger that is), what with us having been so famously at each other's throats for years and years. Get it!!!! Anyway he E-mailed me with this suggestion and I loved it, so then it was just a question of juggling dates and deciding to do 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Comfortably Numb' to round out our little set. Or so I thought, until he sent me a number of very musical and eloquent demos of how we could do the song in two-part harmony. I listened with a sinking heart, knowing that David, with his superior vocal skills, could sing either part standing on his head, whilst I would have to search for a different key and then struggle through hours and hours of routining a performance that lay way outside my vocal comfort zone. To my eternal shame I bottled out and told Dave I would happily do 'Wish You Were Here' and 'C. Numb', but that 'To Know him is to Love him' was beyond me.

Some weeks passed with David cajoling me from time to time, telling me how easy it would be, but I clung resolutely to my fear of failure until one day he made one final entreaty. I quote "If you do 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' for The Hoping Foundation Gig, I'll come and do 'C. Numb' on one of your Wall shows". Well! You could have knocked me down with a feather. How ___________ cool! I was blown away. How could I refuse such an offer. I couldn't, there was no way. Generosity trumped fear. And so explaining that I would probably be shite, but if he didn't mind I didn't, I agreed and the rest is history. We did it, and it was ______________ great. End of story. Or possibly beginning."

This band split in the 80's because of differences between each other. I am quite confident that over the years they were offered insurmountable amounts of money to rejoin and tour as the original, Pink Floyd. In 2005 they got together for a one off concert for Live 8 and fans were thinking...THIS IS IT! That quickly fizzled and again they went different ways.

Sadly, in September of 2008, Richard Wright who was the keyboardist for Pink Floyd passed away. Today with the news that David Gilmour will be joining Roger Waters for one stop on "The Wall" tour has fans excited. I am hoping it is the one on September 21st in Chicago because I won tickets for that one! Many fans say "this is the tour we have been waiting for...PINK FLOYD!" However, the original Pink Floyd will never tour again because of the passing of Richard Wright (Syd? Well...he was gone so early). If this group would have buried the hatchet and forgiven years ago...yes...it would be even MORE spectacular because Richard could have been with him.

Choosing not to forgive can leave you walking with a limp. It can make you a bitter person and one that is very unhappy. I chose to forgive the pastor I served under in Milwaukee....It was me that had to make the first step. It always seems the ones who do the hurting are the ones who won't make the first step at reconciliation. However, I am glad we forgave and moved on. Do I walk with a limp to this day? Does Pink Floyd walk with a limp to this day? Yes. But all of us dealing with forgiveness issues eventually move on and are all the more smarter for it.