Forgiveness

For a long time, you had to pay income tax on debt that your mortgage lender forgave. During the height of the housing crisis, the federal government offered a reprieve - it stopped collecting income tax on up to $2 million of forgiven mortgage debt on a primary residence. This tax leniency is expected to expire at the end of the year, and there's some doubt it will be renewed. Maryland will step in with its own relief if the federal tax break disappears. Under legislation signed into law yesterday, Maryland won't collect state income tax on up to $1 million of forgiven mortgage debt for singles, and $2 million for joint filers.

Harford County Public Schools students and faculty got some welcome news Tuesday: the school year will be ending three days earlier than expected. The school system - which has been closed six days for weather this school year - was granted a waiver for three of those days, Dr. Lillian Lowery, the state superintendent of schools, announced Tuesday. Harford County Public Schools were closed for three days near the beginning of the school year by the effects of what was left of Hurricane Sandy as the superstorm passed through the region.

ONE POSITIVE result of the White House scandal is the debate it has raised on the issue of forgiveness. The need to forgive and be forgiven is endlessly relevant in a world where even the just man may fall seven times, and "Pardon me" is akind of universal mantra.Though religions are often about guilt, they are also about forgiveness. All but one of the Koran's 114 chapters begin "In the name of God, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful." Though compassion and mercy do not necessarily include forgiveness, three of the Koran's 99 names for God pertain to forgiveness: Al-Ghaffar, Al-Ghafur, Al-Ghafir.

A few words on the death of Elwin Wilson. He passed last week in a South Carolina hospital at age 76. Wilson had endured heart and lung problems and had suffered a recent bout with the flu. There is little reason you would know his name, but as a young man, Wilson made a virtual career out of hatefulness. He was a Klan supporter who burned crosses, hanged a black doll in a noose, once flung a jack handle at an African-American boy. In 1961, he was among a group of men who attacked a busload of Freedom Riders at a station in Rock Hill, S.C. In none of those things was he unique, so no, his name should ring no bells.

An interfaith peace garden in Northeast Baltimore builds tolerance among religions through annual conversations about forgiveness. At-risk youth forgive others and themselves with the help of drumming and dance. It's all part of a four-year Maryland Public Television campaign wrapping up this Tuesday to promote love and forgiveness. But participants say the program, part of an effort to build the concepts nationwide, will have a lasting impact. MPT was one of five stations that worked with the Fetzer Institute, a foundation based in Michigan that "engages with people and organizations to bring the power of love, forgiveness and compassion to the center of individual and community life," said Linda Grdina, an officer with the Fetzer program.

A day after being charged with several violations in a boating accident, state Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. released a statement Friday offering regret, claiming the other boat hit him and saying that he plans to stay in office. "I ask forgiveness from the citizens who have looked to me to represent them with honor and integrity in the General Assembly," Dwyer said in the statement, his first public comments since a post-accident news conference in August at which he admitted he had been drinking and apologized.

From prison, Theodore J. Kaczynski, who pleaded guilty to the Unabomber killings, has a message for his brother, who turned him in to the government.In a book to be published this spring, Kaczynski says he could forgive what he calls his brother's treason. But forgiveness will come only if the brother, David Kaczynski, leaves his wife and joins with groups fighting modern society or, as Theodore himself did, lives in rural isolation."In this way he would not only earn my personal forgiveness; what is more important, he would be cleansed and redeemed of his treason against the values that he once held in common with me and many other people," Kaczynski writes.

Terry Anderson, the journalist held hostage in Lebanon for seven years, will speak about forgiveness at 7: 30 tonight at a national meeting of mental health professionals.To attend the speech at the Holiday Day Inn Inner Harbor Hotel at 301 W. Lombard St., the public can buy tickets at the door for $10 each no later than 7 p.m.The overall meeting, which runs through tomorrow, will address the use of forgiveness as a therapeutic intervention. The event is sponsored by the School of Social Work and the School of Nursing, the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Wisdom says that most of us will come upon at least one crossroad in life. For Dorothy Moore, Dottie to her friends, the crossroads came in threes.The first was nearly 20 years ago, when her 19-year-old son was beaten to death outside the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia. Consumed by grief, she had nothing left but rage for the man who killed her son.She sat in the courtroom during his trial and found herself at a second crossroad, when she realized that her son's assailant also had a mother and father, grieving over what had happened.

There were 33 shrines on the campus of Virginia Tech, lovingly built of flowers, letters, candles, photos and gifts. One for each of the 32 students and teachers who died April 16, and one for Seung-Hui Cho, who shot them all and then himself. At Cho's memorial, smaller than the others, there was a plastic bottle filled with flowers, cards and an American flag, according to New York Times reporter Christine Houser. One of the notes read, simply, "I forgive you." Another read: "Dear Cho. You are not excluded from our sorrow in death although you thought you were excluded from our love in life.

It is never too early to issue a warning. St. Patrick's Day will be upon us in a few weeks, and, while people are still reasonably sober they may heed this caution.  The diminutive of the saint's name is Paddy ; it derives from the Irish version of his name, Padraig.  Many people on these shores mistakenly refer to St. Patty's Day , but Patty  is the diminutive of Patricia . If you want to be on familiar terms, and...

By most accounts, the odds are long. Late Ravens owner Art Modell will be among the 17 finalists (15 modern era candidates and two from the seniors committee) on Saturday when voters determine which NFL greats will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It is the second time he has gotten this far in the three-tiered selection process, but the roster is heavy with terrific candidates - including all-everything Ravens offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden - and the selection committee can only send five of them to Canton.

Throw the book at him Philip Hersh Chicago Tribune Before assuming Lance Armstrong comes fully clean, not to Oprah Winfrey but to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency under oath — quite an assumption, given his decade of lies — it is worth noting there is a rule covering reinstatement. The World Anti-Doping Code allows reduction in the period of ineligibility for a person who provides "substantial assistance in discovering or establishing anti-doping rule violations. " In the case of a lifetime ban, as Armstrong received, the code says the new ban must be no less than eight years.

A day after being charged with several violations in a boating accident, state Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. released a statement Friday offering regret, claiming the other boat hit him and saying that he plans to stay in office. "I ask forgiveness from the citizens who have looked to me to represent them with honor and integrity in the General Assembly," Dwyer said in the statement, his first public comments since a post-accident news conference in August at which he admitted he had been drinking and apologized.

People magazine has named its "Sexiest Man Alive," and the nation was surprised to learn he was not a general. The winner was actor Channing Tatum, who may be a movie star but doesn't have any stars on his chest. He is good looking enough, but no so much that you'd throw your reputation, your career, your marriage or your entire personal life in an oil drum and light a match to it. That's what's going on in L'affaire Petraeus, where every day a new character is added to the cast of "Real Housewives of CENTCOM," and we watch as they have their clothing choices, their credit card bills, their percent of body fat, their bare chests (cue the FBI guy in Tampa)

Dan Rodricks ("Same sex unions: What would Jesus do?" Oct. 25) ventured all over the map in trying to discredit the Christian view about homosexuality. First, he tried to imply that the Christian view is that homosexuals should be put to death. I don't know of any Christians who think homosexuals should be put to death. Although Dan was all over the map concerning Christianity, lets just stick to the subject, homosexuality and same-sex unions. I don't know of a single major religion that condones sexual relations between two men or two women.

Long before he sat in a Baltimore courtroom to hear the 60-year prison sentence, before he hugged his family and walked out to face reporters, even before police had arrested his son's killer, Gerald Jones had made his decision: He would forgive. In November 2005, Jones' 33-year-old son, Brian O'Neil Jones, was killed on a street in Canton. Brian Jones -- a husband, father of three, software engineer and volunteer high school basketball coach at Cardinal Gibbons -- was the victim of an apparently unprovoked shooting.

Matt Wood cannot understand it when Baltimore fans shrug off Cleveland's bitterness toward the late Art Modell . "It's bewildering to me when Baltimore fans say, 'Big deal, he moved the team,'" said Wood, who writes for the Cleveland Browns fan website Dawgs by Nature. "It's like, dude, you're in bed with our Irsay. " There it is right there. If you grew up in Baltimore and want to know how Cleveland fans felt Thursday when Modell died, think back to how you felt about the death of Robert Irsay.

Matt Wood cannot understand it when Baltimore fans shrug off Cleveland's bitterness toward the late Art Modell . "It's bewildering to me when Baltimore fans say, 'Big deal, he moved the team,'" said Wood, who writes for the Cleveland Browns fan web site Dawgs by Nature. "It's like dude, you're in bed with our Irsay. " There it is right there. If you grew up in Baltimore and want to know how Cleveland fans felt on Thursday when Modell died, think back to how you felt about the death of Robert Irsay.