The mass shooting in Virginia Beach raises the usual troubling questions about why it happened and how it could have been prevented. Now the families of the victims, and of the shooter himself, must face another big issue: Amid the pain and grief, should they try to forgive him?
Researchers from Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health suggest that the path of forgiveness is probably the best choice for their health. They also note that men find it harder than women to truly forgive someone.
Writing in the American Journal of Public Health, Harvard’s Tyler J. VanderWeele even suggests that forgiveness should be treated as a public health issue, because of the positive mental and physical effects it can produce.