The Chris Donovan Trust-Learning how to forgive

Recently, I heard Ray and Vi Donovan speak about their son, Chris, who died just over ten years ago. They were truly inspirational so I thought that I would try and spread their message a little further. Chris died after he was beaten up by a group of young people and left on a main road, so he was subsequently hit by a car and died shortly afterwards from both sets of injuries.

Their main message was to encourage people to think about their actions, because many of those involved did not mean to kill him, but because they acted violently, he died and some members of the group were sent to prison for murder. As well as this message, Ray and Vi also talked about forgiveness and the journey they had taken to forgive those people who had killed their son. They spoke about how in order to really be free we have to apologise and forgive one another becasue otherwise we are poisoned by our own hate and we cannot begin to move forward from the things that we have done wrong and the wrongs that  other people have done to us. I found it incredible that they could forgive these people, but they told us that in order to make his death mean something and help other people, they had to stop being so angry and try and reach out to people to try and stop other similar tragedies.

Ray and Vi also talked about the importance of restorative justice and it's importance in trying to heal the damage done by crime. They spoke about the ripple effect, the amount of people that these crimes affect, from Chris' family, to the paramedics who tried to save him. Justice based around revenge, such as life imprisonment that is lifelong or capital punishment widens this ripple effect to so many more people, including the families of the criminals who have then also lost sons. They recognised that in some cases long term inprisonment does help to maintian the safety of society, however, in their case they felt like it only did more damage. They felt that a restorative justice programme that helped them to move onto the right track had to be more beneficial.

I think that Ray and Vi are incredible examples of people who have been able to try and use their loss to help others and make a positive impact on people's lives. They have shown people how to forgive the seemingly unforgivable and how it has set them free. They made everyone they spoke to feel worth something and that it is possible to make a change and not be held back by our problems. Out of the three men convicted for muder, they have met one and hope to meet the other two soon, so I wish them the best of luck with that and continuing to inspire other people.