ABSTRACT
The Forgiveness Tree Project is discussion grounded; it invites participants to share their own understandings, experiences, and reservations about forgiveness. The tree provides individuals a way to take action, but is also an expression of the community’s embrace of forgiveness as a shared value. The degree to which the forgiveness tree ceremony has resonated with youthful audiences has been a joy. Over the years the Forgiveness Tree Program has been shared with preteens, teenagers, college students, parents, multi-aged adults, and elders. Due to the good work of clinical psychologists, forgiveness is often conceptualized as an individual decision, which, of course, it is. But the Forgiveness Tree Project assumes that forgiveness occurs within the context of larger social collectives, such as families, schools, and communities. Forgiveness education must be grounded in its cultural context, as the contrast of the above quotations exemplifies. Its value relative to other responses, such as revenge, varies across communities.
