Yesterday I put up the following post on AOL and it proved to be much more controversial than I had anticipated:

If you’re searching for an example of what open hearts can achieve, then look no further than the story of Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton.

When Thompson identified Cotton as her rapist in 1984, she was sure she had the right man. But she was wrong. Cotton, then 22, was convicted of raping Thompson and another woman on the same night in Burlington, N.C. He would spend the next 11 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.

That’s not so uncommon, right? We now know how unreliable eyewitness testimonies can be. That was the tragedy; now for the remarkable part:

In 1995, DNA evidence cleared Cotton of the rapes and showed that another man who was in prison with him was the rapist, a case recently covered by CBS’ ‘60 Minutes.’ Now, Thompson and Cotton are friends and have written a new book together on their story called ‘Picking Cotton.’ Source

The two speak on the phone weekly and travel together to speak out on the problems with eyewitness evidence. Even their families are friends. Thompson said she felt horrible guilt when she found out Cotton was not her rapist. "Suffocating, debilitating shame," she told ‘60 Minutes.’ She asked Cotton if she could meet with him at a local church. "I started to cry immediately. And I looked at him, and I said, ‘Ron, if I spent every second of every minute of every hour for the rest of my life telling you how sorry I am, it wouldn’t come close to how my heart feels. I’m so sorry.’ And Ronald just leaned down, he took my hands…and he looked at me. He said, ‘I forgive you,’" Thompson told CBS. "I told her, I said, ‘Jennifer, I forgive you. I don’t want you to look over your shoulder. I just want us to be happy and move on in life,’"Cotton said. Source

I hope none of us reading this will ever find ourselves in Cotton’s or Thompson’s position. But the path that these two chose to walk together stands as a beacon of conduct for all of us.

Is there someone YOU need to forgive to free yourself?

I was completely surprised by the number of commenters who were upset and angry that Cotton had chosen to forgive Thompson. It’s like some decided to hold the anger that Thompson has chosen to release. If you see the ‘60 Minutes’ piece, Cotton, most unfortunately, bears a strong resemblance to Thompson’s real attacker.

I fully understand that in another time, not so long ago, Cotton would have been savagely lynched on Thompson’s words alone. But I can also appreciate that we are not in that time anymore. I recognize that although people are still wrongly convicted, we live in a time when there is DNA analysis and sometimes wrongly convicted people will live to see freedom and some attempt to restore justice in their lives.

What do you think? Should Cotton have forgiven Thompson?