*This is from a true story I read 4 years ago that I can’t find the source for now.
There is a story of a person named Om whose mother was killed when he was a young child. After his mother was killed, Om was shipped off to another country. There he was held and kept by the very people who killed his mother.
Om lived in captivity like this for twenty years, mistreated, and kept by those who murdered his mother. At the age of twenty-four he was shipped back to his home and allowed to be free. Twenty years he was with the people who killed his mom and held him against his will.
One of those captors tried to befriend Om. This person’s name was Marc. Marc wasn’t directly responsible for Om’s suffering. Marc wasn’t the one who killed Om’s mother. But Marc was still one of them. Marc was the enemy.
The people directly responsible for the murder of Om’s mother told Marc to be careful around Om. Om hated them all and would kill Marc the first chance he got.
Over time Marc started to befriend Om and Om did not attempt to kill Marc.
While in captivity, Om developed a close relationship with a young child. This friendship was one of the few joys Om had in his difficult life.
One day Marc slipped and startled the young child that Om was so fond of.
Three female chimpanzees charged at Marc over his mishap and started to bite and attack him.
As Marc was being attacked, he saw Om charge toward them. Om was furious. Surely Marc was going to pay for startling Om’s precious young one. Om’s time of revenge had finally come. He was going to kill Marc.
To Marc’s surprise, Om fought off the three female chimpanzees and kept them at bay while Marc crawled to safety. Marc made it to a hospital and barely survived.
Here was Om, whose mother had been taken from him and his life destroyed by the people Marc represented. Om could easily view Marc as the ultimate evil. And yet, over time, they had become, if not friends, at least friendly.
Om stands for Old Man.
You’ve probably figured out by now that Om is a chimpanzee.
What can we learn from Om?
We humans consider ourselves so smart, so intelligent, far removed from the beastly chimpanzee. Here is a creature, an animal, a beast, who could show so much forgiveness that he would save a man who represented the destruction of his life.
We humans might immediately point to the lack of intelligence in Om as the reason behind his forgiveness. “If he really understood the situation, as we humans do, he wouldn’t be so quick to forgive.”
What if the opposite is true? What if it is a sign of Om’s intelligence that he was able to forgive?
Om showed compassion and forgiveness.
While we are human and chimpanzees are beast, we can learn something from Om.
The next time you find it difficult to love, or forgive, or understand, remember Om, a chimpanzee capable of great compassion.
No Coincidences 