“Would you Forgive?”  – Lois Einhorn, PhD

During my most tormented days, angry and bitter over lost personal battles I sat in a lecture class centered around forgiveness, empathy and making our personal needs clear to ourselves and people around us. It was a rhetoric class and I would reminisce about my admiration for King George iii, his struggle with mental illness after losing the American Revolution, and learning how to forgive a new nation that made its need for independence known to the world, and the ripple effect his pardon of America had for the world and this great country.

When I was in grade school, long before any mental health condition, I was interested in King George iii and was introduced to him in the book “Why can’t you make them behave king George?”. Somewhere in my archives is a picture of me going to school dressed as the king. Later, as my mental health sustain grew more complex, I was re- introduced to the kings narrative with the madness of king George and its many representations in theatre in film. Here is a king who humiliated by his own colonies and again by his symptoms and struggle to maintain control of himself and his governance. My interest in the king culminated in the height of my mental health battles when I likened my reality to the Regency Period of the England, and made sense of my situation similar to how the government in England did to keep the country running during the kings continuing illness.

The implications of this period in history are too enormous to wrap our minds around. How do we confront, re-invent, and discover ourselves when our personal battles are so dark processing our thoughts is a struggle and needs careful therapeutic monitoring. These are thoughts we hesitate to reminder but need to so we can move on. It begins with owning our part in our mistakes and taking responsibility. We can forgive but never expect to be entitled to being forgiven. This seems bittersweet but it teaches selflessness, the very mettle required to move past our insecurities. Forgiveness releases us, empties space for more timely responsibilities and current needs. Where would we be without this personal vindication device to both create an opportunity to understand the world differently and revitalize and heal our wounds from emotional distress and bitterness. Indeed, King George iii may have lost the war but he set the world stage for a new standard in personal growth and transformation of the soul and its limitless nature to heal us and the world from its darkest hours.

King George on America