OSCAR

I wrote this blog a              few years ago, when          Oscar Pistorious was          going through his              "trial." 

I did not publish it then as I  was still busy doing some research on what God says about forgiveness. Then decided not to publish it because Oscar had been sent to jail to serve his sentence and I thought it better to let it rest. But now because there is a threat that he is to be tried again I have decided to publish it. 

First of all I would like to ask, have you ever heard  such nonsense, how many times must he be tried for the same thing? Every time he gets close to being released they move the goal posts again. To all of you who have been so harsh in condemning him, I pray that God will prevent you from ever having to face what he has and still is  facing.

I am not writing this blog because Oscar is a friend of mine. I have never met him, I don't know him, I only know of him through what I have followed  on the media, and it has  once again amazed me how  brutal and uncaring, we the masses behave towards our fellowmen.

It makes me wonder what we, the masses would have done if we were in his shoes. Pardon the pun. We are not even disabled like he is.

In 1965 and 1966, I faced two similar situations. The first was an intruder coming through  my window in the middle of the night and I did not have a gun nor did I have a telephone.  The second, a year later  was when I very stupidly and unwittingly fired two shots in an office occupied by three other people.  Fortunately, for me, the company I worked for had empathy and did not report this incident as no one was harmed. 

I was thirty six years old at the time of the second incident, ten years older than Oscar when his situation happened, and so, hopefully more mature and also I was not disabled. But I can have empathy because of the similarity of the situations. 

I can still remember, more than fifty years later, how one's mind has to react within split seconds of time when facing such situations, and so you do not always make the wisest choices. Only once the danger is past do you ponder, "I should have done this,"  or  "I could have done that,"  but the moment has passed  and you can't go back.

I am also rather surprised,   to hear, that Barry Steenkamp  and his wife  have  forgiven Oscar, but that  he Oscar "still needs to be punished,"  it was said that it was for their sake and not his that they had forgiven him.

This would be laughable if it were not so tragic.

What does it actually mean to forgive someone?

The English dictionary defines it as :

To stop blaming or being angry with someone, for something that person has done, or not punish them for something.

No longer feel angry about or wish to punish.

Cease to feel resentment against.

pardon,  excuse,  exonerate,  absolve,  acquit, 
let off,  grant amnesty to.

In light of the above, I can safely say that Barry and June have not forgiven Oscar, not even for their own sake. 

Don't get me wrong now!  I can clearly see that Barry is suffering and is in terrible pain, but so also is Oscar . Increasing Oscar's punishment is not in any way going to ease Barry's pain or change Barry's own situation. Only true forgiveness can do that.


Looking at Oscar, I wonder how much more the poor man is expected to take. In my humble opinion, they have had more than their "pound of flesh."   Will they only be satisfied if they could see him in his grave? Will that then make them happy?

Oscar didn't deliberately set out to kill Reeva, he made a tragic mistake, for which he has , in my opinion, already paid too high a price. 

He was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, before he even went to trial, and was on medication to dull the pain so it was only natural given the circumstances that his evidence became a bit confusing. He is a human being after all, he was only twenty six years old and he had the masses turned against him, baying for his blood.

Added to this, in his condition, he had to face the relentless, formidable, Gerrie Nel, which in itself would cause a happy carefree individual considerable stress. This was obvious throughout the  first and the new sentencing trial. 

 Small wonder then, that he chose not to face this ordeal again, especially now that they have completely broken him and he is still sedated.  Yet even for this he is condemned. A television interview is likened to the court ordeal. How ridiculous is that?

Everything he has ever done is now twisted out of context. Things that other carefree youngsters do on a daily basis to have fun are criminal acts for him.  

According to her cousin,   Reeva  shrugged her shoulders when asked whether she was happy and said  "we need to talk" (if, as her cousin said they were as close as sisters, why, may I ask did her cousin not pursue the issue ?  She had two months in which to "talk."  With todays technology there is no excuse) 

Was this his motive to kill her because she was not happy with him. I think not. I recall the pictures of her arriving at his home on that fateful evening, her face shining with happiness. She certainly did not show any signs of abuse.

So now the other alternative is get him for killing an intruder -  how many people would not have done  the same when they or their loved ones were threatened.  What is an intruder doing in your house  at three in the morning in the first place.   Do you have to wait, in Oscar's case on his knees, putting yourself more at risk, for when the intruder makes a move and you no longer have the advantage?

Oscar is already a disabled human being , now the masses want to turn him into a Robot as well.  He is not allowed to have any feeling or emotion.  If  he goes into a shop the customers screech that they will not shop with a murderer. He has even been critisized for having the audacity to smile. It has become a crime for him to bang a book on a desk when he is deliberately and without reason denied medication for his pain. 

Gerrie Nel has said that Oscar cannot be rehabilitated because he has shown no remorse.  How ridiculous is that?

Now let us see what God says about forgiveness . On doing some research I found at least 150 verses in the Bible concerning forgiveness: Here are just a few: 

"Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone."  John 8:7

"Judge not and you will not be judged, and condemn not and you will not be condemned." Luke:6:37

"Blessed be the merciful for they shall obtain mercy."  Matthew 5:7

"Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man,  whosoever thou art that judges another."  Romans 2:1

"Be merciful, even as thy Father in heaven is merciful."  Luke 6:36

"For judgement is without mercy, to him who has shown no mercy."  
James 2:13

There were no eyewitnesses to this tragic story. What you think, what I think and what Gerrie Nel thinks are all just assumptions. This young man's life, has been destroyed, it will never ever be the same. Is that what you wish for your fellow man?  I know that Reeva lost her life and that can never change, but while Oscar is still alive please show some kindness and mercy. Oscar didn't have a criminal history, one tragic mistake has changed his life forever.