Article Reflection No. 72 (10/15/2023)

Article: “‘I Want to Be Forgiven. I Just Want to Be Forgiven.’”

The New York Times article “‘I Want to Be Forgiven. I Just Want to Be Forgiven.’” by Dan Barry features the Minnesota Board of Pardons, a group that offers societal forgiveness to criminal offenders. Consisting of three members—Governor Tim Walz, Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, and Attorney General Keith Ellison—the board either grants or denies pardons based on a ten-minute interval in which the supplicant has the opportunity “to prove that they were worthy [of the pardon]” (Barry 5). Through the lens of personal stories from multiple individuals, Barry emphasizes the psychological burdens that drive people to seek societal forgiveness. A pardon from the state, he suggests, is a valuable way to obtain this societal forgiveness.

Following the journeys of men and women who have committed crimes in the past (and seek societal forgiveness), this article highlights the complexity of human remorse and vulnerability.