Moments Of Forgiveness

One great lecture at: http://tastethewind.blogspot.com/2010/12/major-problems-for-mankind.html

52 Stories in 52 Weeks: ## 51

Moments Of Forgiveness (Based On True Events)

By: Mr. George D. Patnoe., Jr.'s Ambidextrous Brain + Spiritual Mind.

Jorge’s childhood was an eyeopener for Jorge. The boy Jorge’s wondering eyes looked out towards the huge world of people, and he did not like what he saw. He saw many dangers all around him, plus he was warned about many unseen dangers. He realized that world can be a dangerous place for a boy because he had seen many boys and young men become violent or almost violent for no reason whatsoever. The young Jorge soon realized that he was living among modern day cave boys; boys who were violent and dangerous. Jorge did not like what he saw in the world.

One day, Jorge had visited a middle school classmate who was physically attacked and assaulted by a gang of teenager young men. The gang members used a big and heavy metal chain to hit the hospitalized guy’s face. He was forcefully knocked to the ground where he painfully was at the gang’s hostile mercy. Even though he had almost died, he calmly spoke with a smile as he laid in the hospital bed. He smiled wider as he spoke the words, ‘Do not worry about me. I know who attacked me and they will regret not killing me.’ The bloodily and scarred person in the hospital bed was only thinking about his revenge on the group of modern day cave males who attacked him. Jorge wondered why there was so much violence in America’s schools when everyone should be studying instead of worrying about the modern day cave youth gangs. What was Jorge going to do?

Whether by an accident or an act of destiny, Jorge had met another young man who had been studying the ancient Chinese martial art of kung fu. Jorge listened carefully and intently as the young man told his short story of how he was attacked by four big gang members. With no help around the young man, he used a side snap kick to unsurprisingly break the leg of bad guy one; and then he used a rear snap kick to break the leg of bad guy two; he then used a roundhouse kick to knock the third bad guy motionless on the ground. The fourth bad guy ran away because he did not want to get kicked by a young kung fu master. Jorge was silently impressed by the story, but he became even more impressed when the young man stated, ‘Anyone can learn Chinese kung fu!’ He then winked at Jorge as a hint that Jorge should start training as soon as possible.

After seeing many individual examples of bullying students picking on other bullying students, and even on defenseless and weak students, Jorge also began studying kung fu and many other styles of martial arts for self-defense purposes. The other reason Jorge began studying the varied forms of martial arts of self-defense was because he knew that he would never become a professional basketball player, or a baseball player, or a football player or any other kind of physical athletic. But he knew that he would never know when he would be attacked by the modern day cave men who believed in violence instead of intelligence. He also knew that he could get into physical shape too, plus being able to defend his physical body against most violent day cave people in his life. In other words, the martial arts would be part of his life forever.

From the moment of his first step into a dojo or any marital art school, Jorge started to prepare his body and mind to make them strong and flexible for every martial movement known to man. He was also prepared to listen to every martial art’s instructor without a single question. As a very young martial art student, he realized that all of the martial art instructors knew more about self-defense than a young boy could know, so he obeyed their every word and instruction because he wanted to become a good martial artist as a boy, but more importantly, because he wanted to be able to defend himself from the violent modern day cave boys.

It seemed as if Jorge that he had no choice in his decision of studying the martial arts because he did not want to end up in a hospital. So he trained both his body and mind for the development of becoming a martial artist as a youth, and as a martial art master later in his life. So he trained hard in and out of the dojos. With every martial art lesson, there were simple lessons of either individual punches and kicks, plus many of the thousands of individual self-defense moves for any and all physical attacks from the world’s modern day cave people.

In no time at all, Jorge was learning and practicing front snap kicks and side snap kicks and rear side kicks and round house kicks and many other kinds of kicks. Jorge learned how to kick to the front and to the side and to the rear in so many ways. There was standing on one foot and kicking with a foot snapping outwards for hundreds of kicks to the front, side, and to the rear. There was low kicks and middle and high kicks. There were single kicks and double kicks and triple kicks. There were combinations of kicks to the front and then to the side and to the rear. Sometimes, Jorge would remember the kung fu guy who told him the story of defending himself from the four bad guys.

There were front and side and rears kicks thrust outward towards the air, to heavy bags, to speed bags, and to movable and immovable trees. There were jumping front, side, and rear kicks too. Jorge would stand in a deep pool of water and he would practice snapping kicks in the water. And of course, there was the blindfolded kicks to the front, side, and to the rear. And to top off all of those methods of practicing the front, side, and rear snap kicks, there was also the running, biking, weight lifting, and of course, stretching in so many ways. The means to the end was always a sparring match against another person. A sparring match is between two people with a few rules added for safety. But Jorge knew and still knows that there are no rules on the street. Well, almost no rules for fighting on the street. Jorge’s only rule was to win!

Trying to kick or punch a moving target was usually more difficult than kicking a stationary bag or tree or wall. Of course, Jorge’s opponents were also trying to kick and punch Jorge. So Jorge had to use fancy footwork and blocks and other means so he would not receive a punch or a kick by his opponents. Before every sparring match, Jorge would become inwardly silent. His mind would turn away from the world of people and things. He would mentally enter a deadly zone unknown to most modern day cave people. In the moment of sparring, Jorge turned into a different person, almost like a expert warrior from a past life who had never forgot his skills as a warrior. His spirit would rise up to defeat almost every opponent, but if he was ever defeated in a sparring match, he would use every defeat as a lesson for future battles. Of course, it each sparring match was partly pretend because it was and is not legal in America to kill a sparring opponent. But Jorge knew that it was and still is legal to kill someone in the act of self-defense.

He also learned how to punch and strike with his hands in countless numbers of ways. Jorge learned that almost every part of his body could be used as a lethal weapon, including his fingers and thumb. In no time all at, Jorge was completing sets of one hundred finger tip pushups as if they were nothing. And then there were two fingertip pushes and then only thump pushups. And after his hands were bloodied from hitting and striking the various punching apparatuses, Jorge would soak his cut and bloody hands in hot salt water and other special water to make them tough. His feet were also included in the special water treatments. Soon enough, running barefoot in the snow was no problem for Jorge.

Jorge also learned how to defend himself against many people and even armed people. He learned how to fight blindfolded. Jorge had learned so many moves that he did not bother to remember most of them because there were thousands of self-defense moves to remember. He guessed that he would just remember them when he needed to remember a specific self-defense move for whatever situation might arise on the street.

Then Jorge was taught how to use all of the different ancient martial art weapons like swords and sticks and knifes and different forms of blades and weapons that most people have never heard of since the ancient wars like those in Japan and China; which are not commonly known or normally used in America’s modern day life.

In no time at all, Jorge could kick every known kick that was ever taught in any dojo around the world. He could punch and strike fast and hard with his hands fast too. And he had learned so many self-defense movements from so many different styles of martial arts, that he feared no human man on earth. He did not fear better martial artists either. But more importantly, he learned not to fear the threat of death. And even more importantly, he was not afraid of death! Moreover, he learn to treasure life because he had long ago realized how easy it was to kill a modern day cave person.

After studying so many different kinds of martial arts, either for sport or for real life fighting, Jorge the young boy, who had became a young man, was about to enter the world with a strong body to became a man. Jorge’s body and mind was well prepared and well programmed to become a real life warrior in nanoseconds; if not faster. As all true martial artists know, after many years of physical training from boyhood, a boy’s body transforms into a man’s body which is much stronger in so many ways, so it is even a better weapon than a boy could have realized. But becoming a man made Jorge realized that even the grownup modern day cave people could also be dangerous.

But after studying martial arts for so long, and after learning so much about the martial arts from real training, every student needs time off to relax. And what better way to relax from training than watching martial art movies. There are so many martial art movies from around the world that every martial art student hoped to learn something from each movie. There are so many different styles of martial arts, that martial art movies are a fun way to watch the old time masters with the hope of learning something new. A true martial artist is always learning something new, just for the fun of it.

But as with many young martial art students, Jorge had temporally began to idolize some of the few modern day martial art masters who had mastered and then glorified one aspect of their martial art, because they became a Hollywood movie stars. Maybe even developing a new martial art style. Maybe, even becoming a huge international Hollywood martial art movie star. One such modern day international martial art movie star was the late Bruce Lee.

Like many other martial art students, Jorge watched Bruce Lee on the big movie screen with his martial art friends. On the big movie screen, movie star Bruce Lee could kick and punch faster than any opponent on earth. And even Bruce Lee’s movie story’s were also fun to watch. He usually fought against weaker, slower, and less skilled fighters on the movie screen. But there was one movie martial opponent who had an equal martial art spirit, but whom Bruce Lee had to beat anyway, because it was a movie. As tens of thousands of teenage boys around the world watched Bruce Lee, they too wished they could become a perfect fighter in every regard, even to grown up to become professional fighters. (Another daydream for some modern day cave people.)

But when the great martial artist Hollywood movie actor Bruce Lee became a philosopher with such Zen sayings as: ‘A learned man once went to a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, "Oh, yes, we have that too......" and so on. Finally the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup fill, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed. "Enough!" the learned man once more interrupter. "No more can go into the cup!" Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "If you do not first empty the cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"

Jorge thought to himself that, ‘If a martial arts master / Hollywood movie star can be philosophical, then so should I!’ So he started to study Zen and philosophy for the fun of it.

But another event changed Jorge from being purely a self-defense fighter or purely a physical martial artist to being a philosopher of life. One day, Jorge was walking on a sidewalk. He was minding his own business when something unexpected happened. A carload of bullies started yelling out the window at Jorge, but Jorge pretended not to see the bullies. Instead, he started to whistle. Jorge was thinking what to do to avoid a confrontation. But he knew that he could not outrun a car. So he hoped that the bullies would just drive away.

Instead, the car turned around and two of the bullies exited the car, while the car drove passed Jorge and stopped behind Jorge. Two bullies were in front of Jorge, while the other two bullies had already exited the car were behind Jorge. Jorge fearlessly knew that he was not going to run away from the bullies. He did not even sweat a muscle’s drop of sweat as his mind calmly became as still as a calm pond. There was no thoughts about what to do. He was truly ready to defend himself from the four modern day cave men.

As the first bully attacked Jorge, Jorge snap his foot to the side, breaking the first person’s leg. The first bully fell to the ground while he cried out with pain. When the second person attacked Jorge, Jorge blocked his opponent’s punch while he broke his opponent’s arm. The second person stumped away with a bone sticking out of his arm’s skin. When the third bully attacked Jorge, Jorge was getting really mad because he had hoped that the third and forth bully would have had enough intelligence to walk away after seeing the damage that Jorge had already inflicted on the first two bullies.

Jorge looked at the third and fourth bully. Without saying a word, Jorge raised his hand up in the air and he shook his finger back and forth in an unspoken message of, "Do not do it!" When the third person attacked Jorge, Jorge used a special punch to hit the face of the third bully so hard, that he almost killed him. The fourth bully ran towards his fallen and helpless and defeated friends. The forth bully helped his defeated bullies to the car and they drove away. The four bullies were looking out the window again, but they were not yelling at Jorge. They would never yell at Jorge ever again. Nor would they ever attack Jorge again. Not only that, but the story quickly spread around town that Jorge had beaten up the four bullies who had been harassing him for so many months. Everyone talked about a real life movie fight; if only it was that simple!

Jorge walked away from the scene without a hit of pride in defending himself from the four bullies. Instead, he felt a sense of confusion that he had caused pain and suffering to the three bullies; even if they did deserve what they had received from Jorge. When people walked up to Jorge to congratulate on his win, he did not feel as if anyone really won anything. Jorge began philosophizing his win against the four bullies. Could he have done it different without causing so much pain and suffering? Could he have talked his way out of the fight? Or maybe he simply did not have a choice but to defend himself from the four bullies.

A month later, after one bully left the hospital from being hit in the face with Jorge’s special punch, the now reformed bully simply walked up to Jorge with a smile. The two males were standing in the same spot where the fight had occurred. Jorge was looking at the reformed bully with a bit of doubt. ‘Why is he walking up to me, alone at that?’ thought Jorge.

The reformed bully reached out his hand as he stated, ‘I am really sorry that we jumped you. I am also sorry that we have been harassing you for so long. How would you like to have a soda and hamburger with me?’

Jorge speechlessly glared at the reformed bully. He also looked at the hamburger joint only fifty feet away from the two hamburger lovers. Jorge’s quickly philosophized within his quickly learning mind a few points of life. But without questioning the reformed bully because the moment had presented itself to Jorge, he did not ponder the moment for long. Instead, he went with his gut instinct to forgive the reformed bully, without philosophizing about it. He could do that later. So Jorge reached out his hand and shook the reformed bully’s hand. ‘Sure, I will have a hamburger with you.’

As they sat in the hamburger joint across from each other, people in the restaurant started to point at Jorge and the reformed bully. Soon a few other people showed up and they sat down too. Jorge sat silent as he looked at the reformed bully. Jorge wondered what the reformed bully had thought about while he laid in the hospital bed for a days on end. Maybe the reformed bully also became a philosopher about his bullying life and he had realized that his bullying life was no good.

Jorge wondered about his life too. He thought about even more when he realized that he had forgiven the bullies for attacking him and that the reformed bully had also forgiven Jorge for hitting him with a lighting fast and hammer hard punch to the face. But for some reason, it seemed like no other person could understand that sense of forgiveness between two men who had been in a real fight.

Jorge heard what people were saying behind his back. Some people even questioned Jorge on why he had a hamburger with the reformed bully. Jorge simply stated, ‘In is no big deal. He asked for forgiveness for being a bully and picking a fight with me. So I simply forgave him.’

Everyone was really confused with the concept of forgiveness, but it was new to Jorge too. Jorge felt as if his mental cup was being emptied while his mind was being filled up with the real meaning of life. Even modern day cavemen can learn about the real meaning and purpose of life.

So Jorge started to study Bruce Lee’s Zen statements and he also started to study other philosophies partly for the fun of it, but partly because he had no choice. Jorge had quickly learned that life was not about fighting or preparing for moments of self-defense at all. Jorge had learned that life was about living and learning. Jorge had started on a whole new path in his life. He almost completely stopped trying to perfect kicks and punches so he could learn as much as he could about life. But then something completely unexpected happen to Jorge and millions of other Bruce Lee fans. Bruce Lee was shot and killed by a single bullet of a gun. Jorge stared at the motionless Bruce Lee in his coffin. There he was. The world’s fastest puncher and kicker in the movie world, laying as dead as a nail, even if his new martial style would live on.

Jorge and the millions of other Bruce Lee fans were completely bummed out because their international hero was dead. Jorge thought to himself, ‘Who could replace Bruce Lee the fighter?’

Jorge slowly wondered what life was all about if a person from childhood studies so many of the martial arts, that he could defend himself against many people, but not from a planned gun’s bullet, or from a nuclear warhead, or from a comet from the sky. After all, if the huge dinosaurs became extinct by a single comet from the outer space, what was the real meaning and purpose of and for life for every human on earth? One night, Jorge could not sleep. So he walked outside at 3 am on very cold Thanksgiving night. He stood in the frigid cold air as he looked at the stars in the sky. And a single question popped into his mind. "What would happed right now if a nuclear warhead dropped in front of your eyes?"

He imagined the bright explosion in the distance as he realized the sleeping modern day cave people were all sleeping in their warm beds. He imagined the nuclear cloud’s huge heat wave changing the very frigid cold winter air into the hottest hell human’s might ever know. He realized that all of the sleeping humans would never know what had fried them to their early deaths. But he realized something even more important. That because each modern day cave person was sleeping even when they were awake. How could anyone defend him/herself from a modern day caveman nuclear warhead or nuclear bomb from modern day cave people?

Jorge wondered what was the source of that pondering question because he had never thought about nuclear war since the time of his human birth. It seemed that a source outside himself had sent him that question. But more importantly, how was he supposed to answer a question he had no idea how to answer? Jorge knew that he would be searching for the answers to that question for a long time, but he walked back into the house and covered himself with the warm blankets.

Jorge fell asleep and he dreamt a dream.

Jorge saw a tall dark tanned skin and bearded man, in a white robe, walking up to him. The man in the white robe had a crown of thorns on his head. The man opened reached out his hand to show the dreaming Jorge the bloody holes in his hands. And then, the white robed man raised the white robe to show the holes in his feet to Jorge. The white robed man then started to speak to Jorge.

"Over two thousand years ago, I walked the earth without ever throwing a kick or a punch to any of my human enemies. Instead, I preached that God is Love and that you are to love your enemies instead of killing them. But in the new age of nuclear warheads and bombs, the very old concept of a personal god must be replaced with the impersonal concept of the divine Principle, Love. I never stated that I was god in a human form. But I did state that I was at one with God. Those are two completely separate and different ideas about God and Jesus. Anyone can be atone with the Spirit of Love.’

‘Men do not put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. (Matt: 9:17. + Luke 5: 37-39) ‘but new wine must be put into new bottles.' (Mark 2: 22)

People must empty themselves of the old concept of a personal god of war and hate. And then they must fill themselves up with the Spirit of Love, as the only and true God for all mankind. That would be the best birthday gift that a two thousand year old guy could wish for in the nuclear age of dangerous weapons.

I preached that God is Spirit and Love. I stated that people are to worship God in spirit and in truth. As in the days of old, but more importantly, in the news days of the current world; people believe that going to churches and mosques and synagogues and temples is the way to worship the Supreme Being. But that is not the way to worship the Grand Creator. If people walk inside a building to worship their wrong concept of god; and then they hate other humans after they walk outside of the buildings, they do not know the true meaning and purpose of the Spirit of Love that I preached over two thousands years ago.

When I stated on the cross, "‘Forgive them heavenly Father, for they know not what they do." people were so confused about that one statement. After all, how could a man hanging from a cross or a tree with nails in his hands and feet, and with a crown of rose thorns wrapped around his head find the spirit of forgiveness in his heart and soul and mind? How could such a man forgive those pre-modern day cavemen who used whips with nails at the end of the whip’s leather end’s to forty times tear into the skin of a true pre-modern day man of God; a man who preached love for all mankind.

In your world of nuclear warheads, a message must be sent to the world that there is only one God of all men. There may be thousands of human concepts of god, but there is only one God, which is the Spirit of Love and not the spirit of war, killing, death, and destruction. The whole human race must learn about the one God of Love before it is to late for the human race. To use nuclear warheads or bombs in the name of God is completely wrong. It would be impossible to forgive each other in a nuclear war; if a nuclear war killed everyone on earth."

The man in the white robed transformed into a increasingly glowing white and yellow bright light, blinding the dreaming Jorge. Jorge felt the light's spirit of truth and love flowing towards himself, and all true seekers who seek for the spirit of truth and love. Jorge woke up wondering who that man was in his dream. He later learned that it was the two thousand year old Jesus the Christ; the true modern day man of peace!

Happy Birthday Jesus!