Breaking the Cycle of Violence Through Forgiveness

Thought Provoking Q & A Sessions

RISSE

Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus - September 27, 2016

Thank you students, staff and parents in the RISSE program for warmly welcoming Breaking the Cycle to your program.  May the stories of hope and forgiveness that you heard today inspire each of More...

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RISSE

Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude."

Dr. Martin Luther King

Forgiveness is the greatest act of love a man can do."

Steven McDonald, NYPD, 08 Jan. 2002

If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive."

Bhagavad Gita

Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies."

Nelson Mandela

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life."

George MacDonald, The Greatest Quotations of All Time, by Anthony St. Peter; © 2010

It is easier to forgive an Enemy than to forgive a Friend."

William Blake (1757 – 1827); in The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake, Edited by David V. Erdman; © 1965

Watch our Video

Senator Charles Schumer: 

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if every person who was faced with what Steven (McDonald) was faced with, had his reaction? 

I wish we could put everyone in New York, and everyone in America, and everyone in the world, in one giant football stadium and they could all just listen to what you have had the lucky privilege to hear.  Wouldn’t the world be a much better place?

In every part of the globe, every day there are tens of thousands of young women your age who are hurt by violence.  Sometimes it is someone they don’t know; sometimes it is someone they know.  And can you imagine, if everyone had the lessons Pastor Arnold teaches in his books?

Each of us has been given a gift.  A gift far more important than a gift wrapped in a package, a material gift with a ribbon.  We have been given some true knowledge.  And I hope for myself, and I hope and pray for everyone here, that that will make us a better person; each of us a better person as we go forward in life.”

Spoken by Senator Schumer after a Breaking the Cycle assembly at the Academy of Mount St Ursula in Bronx, NY on April 2, 2004

 

 

Who we are

Structured formally in 1999 as a response to Columbine, Breaking the Cycle provides dynamic assemblies on conflict resolution through forgiveness.  Assemblies address escalating school violence at its roots; bullying, peer pressure, suicidal isolation, racism and intolerance of others.  Our message is positive and universal – a direct appeal to young people to value their own lives and those of others.  Speakers focus on real-life experiences, honest communication and forgiveness as a way of resolving conflicts and easing the tensions that linger afterward.  They tell personal stories where the act of forgiving mitigated the cancer of hatred, setting the stage for positive change in their lives. more..

Breaking the Cycle is a program designed to introduce students to viewpoints that contribute to the complete education of students. BTC retains primary direction over the content of the program and viewpoints expressed by the speakers are not attributable to the host school or facility.