“Forgiveness is the final form of love.”In doing a little research for this post I looked at quotes about forgiveness, and that one stood out. It comes from Reinhold Niebuhr, who was a seminary professor and one of the great theologian ethicists of recent history.Usually I hate pithy little quotes like that. It sort of relates to my post from last night about absolutes. Trying to sum up such a complex idea like forgiveness in a short sentence like that is likely to make you sound idiotic, simple and shallow. I think that quote’s right on though.Forgiveness is something that’s sometimes incomprehensibly difficult to grant. To say to someone, “You’ve done a bad thing to me, but I forgive you,” requires us to look past whatever innate feelings we have, and find aspects of ourselves that help differentiate us from the rest of the animal kingdom, that help make us human.Unfortunately for Josh Hamilton, many people in baseball are animals. Or at least, they’re not very forgiving.If you don’t follow baseball, you might not know Josh Hamilton’s story. He was the first pick in the 1999 Major League Baseball draft. Most experts agreed that he was headed for stardom. For the first couple of seasons, everything went as planned.Then he began taking drugs. He failed drug tests. He was out of baseball for three years. He looked defeated.Then, with the help of some friends, and a guy who owned a baseball academy, Hamilton got his life back on track. He trained at the academy under the stipulation that he also had to work there. So he cleaned bathrooms, washed floors, and slept on an air mattress in one of the offices.The Reds gave him a chance in 2007, and he capitalized on it. Over the next six seasons, first with the Reds, then with the Rangers, he produced like the star everyone thought he’d be. He appeared in two World Series, won the Most Valuable Player award, and became one of the best players in the game.But even when things were good, he faced difficulties. In July 2011 he flipped a baseball toward a fan in the stands. The fan reached for it and fell over the railing, twenty feet below onto concrete, while his six-year-old son watched. Hamilton heard the boy screaming for his dad, who died on the way to the hospital.He struggled with the death for a time. But when the Rangers invited the boy to throw out the first pitch before a Rangers playoff game a few months later, it was Hamilton who crouched behind the plated and caught it, then greeted and embraced the boy and his mother.He signed a big contract with the Los Angeles Angels a couple of years ago. He’s struggled since, first with injuries, and then this past offseason with a drug relapse.Which brings me to forgiveness.The Angels are set to trade him back to the Rangers. Arte Moreno, the Angels owner, has barely tried to hide his disdain for Hamilton’s relapse. Their president and general manager agreed.He’s getting paid well, and he hasn’t produced on the field. He’s in his mid-30s, which might as well be 100 in baseball years. So it’s no surprise that the Angels don’t have much patience with him.Which makes me wonder, if they had the 2010 version of Josh Hamilton—the feared hitter, skilled defender, uninjured Josh Hamilton—would they be more forgiving of his latest transgression? It’s easy to get rid of an average player, which is what Hamilton has been for the Angels—when they screw up. But would they get rid of a superstar?And does it count for anything that Hamilton self-reported his latest drug relapse? If all the latest medical expertise agrees that drug addiction is a disease, then are the Angels being coarse and uncaring by ditching him?I think so.
But maybe that’s just the limit of forgiveness. Fans will forgive him, but they have an emotional attachment to him and their team. Other players will forgive him, but they have a close attachment as well.The Angels have no attachment. He’s an underperforming asset, and if they can cut him loose and save some money, then they might as well do so. We’re reminded all the time that baseball is a business.So maybe Niebuhr’s correct and forgiveness is the final form of love. We forgive those we love, and we end up better off because of it.But try as we may, we don’t love everybody, so we won’t forgive everybody.PREVIOUS POST: Sometimes We're Absolutely WrongIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: My Life at 100 Years Old+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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