A Global Holiday
Whose Time Has Come

The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance invites you to
assist us in globalizing the healing spirit of forgiveness
by supporting the establishment of
International Forgiveness Day
as the world’s first annual global holiday.
www.forgivenessday.org
The Pioneers of Forgiveness are a network of San Francisco Bay Area citizens committed to the establishment of an official global holiday and other related projects for the nurture and celebration of the spirit of forgiveness. International Forgiveness Day is to be observed annually on the first Sunday of August in all (approximately 300) of the world’s countries and territories by the year 2005.
The Pioneers of Forgiveness support the International Forgiveness Day project in several ways:
Creating public awareness of and participation in Bay Area celebrations of International Forgiveness Day
Extending their network globally to millions of other pioneers
Funding the International Forgiveness Day project
Teaching forgiveness skills in a variety of formats.
To create your own participation as a Pioneer of Forgiveness, you may, after reading this brochure, send in the pledge form on the back. For further information, please write, call or e-mail us.
Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance
20 Sunnyside Ave., Suite A268 Mill Valley, CA 94941
415/381-3372
noelmcinnis@pioneersofforgiveness.org
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Forgiveness is the release of all hope for a better past.
-Alexa Young
As humanity has evolved, we have developed the ability to learn from our mistakes and to prepare for present and future dangers via defenses against threats of nature, disease, hunger and – most importantly – each other. Yet as we have correspondingly established more complex societies, our instinctive self-defense mechanisms have constrained our social evolution. The tribally based governments that we have formed to maintain group solidarity, both locally and nationally, perpetuate divisive patterns of separation that tend to fragment our planet on a global scale.
It has been less than four decades ago that humankind adopted its first global icon, the image of the Whole Earth, a symbol that transcends all religious, ethnic, political, social, economic and other structures and issues that divide us. The wholeness of our planet is the first representation of unity and oneness with which every human being can identify.
It is now time for humankind also to embrace an ethic that embodies the spirit of universality that is conveyed by the Whole Earth image. Such an embrace may be facilitated by an annual global holiday that exemplifies such an ethic. Our candidate for this global holiday is International Forgiveness Day. We are confident that as millions of individuals and groups adopt the annual observance of this holiday planet-wide, national and international leaders will be persuaded to make it the first official global holiday.
Such a holiday can muster a critical mass of receptivity to forgiveness in the collective human consciousness, and a corresponding willingness to resolve the grievances that increasingly fragment humankind and the planet. Until such receptivity and willingness is seen as the direction in which humankind is now desiring to move, the world’s political leaders will continue to perceive themselves as the custodians of their constituency’s grievances. Accordingly, International Forgiveness Day is intended to instigate a worldwide parade of forgiveness, a parade so compelling of global participation that the world’s leadership is moved to get in front of it.
How I know I have forgiven someone
is that he or she has harmless passage in my mind.
-Rev. Karyl Huntley

Steps to Forgiveness
Confront your emotional pain - your shock, fear, anger, and grief. Recognize that the hurt which has occurred may have been very unfair and that these steps are not meant to minimize the hurt involved.
Realize that true forgiveness is possible only after you have processed out your fear, anger, and grief. Also realize that you can set forgiveness as a goal in the future for your own sake now! Recognize that continued dwelling on the anger and resentment involved in the hurt will literally destroy your physical health, and cause you great mental suffering
Understand that love is what you ultimately want for and from yourself.
Understand that forgiveness does not condone, approve or forget the harmful acts; forgiveness does not allow yourself to be abused. We forgive the doer, not the doing. Remembering this helps us to break harmful cycles of behavior.
Realize that you are the only person responsible for your own feelings and for healing the hurt that is going on inside of you.
Remember that you are so powerful that usually you had some part in what happened. Be willing to totally face up to that part and accept it without blame, loving and forgiving that part.
See the situation overall as an opportunity for healing and for growth. See that the other person involved has revealed to you through his or her actions where there was a wounded spot in you which needed healing.
Start releasing anger, sadness, grief, and fear through the many processes, therapies and therapists available. Work with a person who can truly empathize with you, yet who can be objective and help you shift your perception from blame to healing.
Decide to forgive. Even if this decision is half-hearted at first, it will tend to lessen your hurt and anger immediately.
(Continued at www.forgivenessday.org/steps_to_forgiveness.htm)
Sustaining the Project
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead
The International Forgiveness Day initiative is sustained by the uncompensated work of a handful of volunteers, whose dedication to the project is conditioned by requirements of livelihood and other essentials of self-maintenance. Accordingly, our progress is in proportion to the emergence of livelihood from the project itself.
Your tax-deductible donation, made payable to the “Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance” and mailed to the address on the next page will be greatly appreciated (i.e., increased in value) by the energies thus liberated.

The Pioneer of Forgiveness Pledge
We must be the difference we seek to make in the world.
-Mohandas Gandhi
As a Pioneer of Forgiveness:
_____I am willing to practice forgiveness in my own life and to assist in
making it a priority in the world.
_____I am willing to model being for something and against nothing.
_____I am willing to enjoy greater well-being, peace of mind, health and
happiness by releasing attachment to fear, judgment and negative
experience.
_____I am willing to support the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance in
globalizing the spirit of forgiveness by receiving updates on its
initiatives and networking this information in my community.
_____I am willing to encourage my friends and others to be Pioneers of
Forgiveness.
_____I am willing to actively support the campaign to make International
Forgiveness Day a global holiday (first Sunday of August).
_____I am willing to contribute a minimum of $25 per year to the World
wide Forgiveness Alliance in support of its forgiveness initiatives.
(Make checks payable to WFA at address below.)
Name (please print) _________________________________
Address:
City, State & Zip:
Telephone: Fax:
E-mail: Website:
Signature:
Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance
20 Sunnyside Ave., Suite A268 Mill Valley, CA 94941
415/381-3372
www.forgivenessday.org www.pioneersofforgiveness.org

Be a Pioneer!
Practice Forgiveness