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forgiveness

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Liam Gallagher balances a tambourine on his bucket hat. A boy wears a bucket hat.

The reunification of Oasis seems to represent something bigger than just two lads who put their differences aside to go on tour. Some could even argue that the notorious repair of the longtime rift between the Gallagher brothers (Liam and Noel) was symbolic of the idea that healing is possible.

This world might need that right now. Representing that healing (at least in clothing form) is the bucket hat, made extremely popular by the Brit Pop era of which Oasis ruled. The Sunday night show at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles was full of them, bouncing around in different colors by the thousands.

liam gallagher, noel gallagher, oasis, bucket hat, fashion Oasis performs at The Rose Bowl in Los Angeles in 2025.Photo Credit: Marcia Neumeier

According to fashion experts, bucket hats first became popular in the early 1900s, mostly worn by Irish fishermen and farmers. They reemerged in the 60s, then again in the 80s, and then pretty much every decade after. Whether it's TV character Gilligan, a rapper, or, yes, Liam Gallagher himself, this fashion statement is so strong it creates a movement in the zeitgeist.

Bucket hat, Gilligans Island, Bob Denver, fashion, hat Bob Denver in Gilligans Island 1966.jpg - Wikimedia Commons commons.wikimedia.org

Millennials (and some Gen X-ers on the younger end of the spectrum) seemed to especially enjoy ramping up the sales in bucket hat merch. I saw firsthand that you couldn't throw a guitar pick without bouncing one off those happy little head coverings.

Fashion accessories stylist Fay Parrish told Upworthy that it's not just bucket hats coming along for the Brit Pop reemergence ride. "Plaid oversized shirts, boot cut jeans and funnel neck tech jackets are back, and with that, their crowning glory, the bucket hat," she says.

Upworthy also spoke to Eric Turney, President of Sales and Marketing at The Monterey Company. He shares the interesting note that there's actually a name for this phenomenon. "People in our industry are referring to it as the Oasis Effect. Since the reunion buzz, bucket hats have jumped from streetwear collections to mainstream fall style. Our sales are up, and clothing designers are building them into full seasonal collections."

At an Oasis show in July in London, Liam made sure the hat was properly described, yelling, "This isn’t f— velvet, and it’s not a f— beanie hat. It’s jumbo cord, and it’s a bucket hat.”

@liamgallagher

#liamgallagher #oasis


Not quite everyone appreciates the style, though. On Reddit, nearly 300 people have already commented on the post, "Wearing a bucket hat instantly makes people look like jerks." (Though the OP noted L.L. Cool J pulls it off well, stating, "Maybe LL Cool J gets away with it, but he needs to state that he’s ‘cool’ in his name.")

Even though there were quite a few jokes, many even in this thread came to the bucket hat's defense. Some for practical reasons: "I love the bucket hat. It’s perfect for working outside and is better for sun protection or for the rain compared to a baseball hat." Others were more sentimental, with one exclaiming in all caps: "OASIS FANS IN THE AREA."

Oasis, music, fans, Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher 90s Music Video by Oasis Giphy

Others took note of Liam fully embracing the look. On the subreddit r/Oasis, many discuss his consistency at every show. Some speculated he's growing out a bad haircut. Others just believe he's reinforcing his brand. But whatever he's doing, it's creating a bond among generations and setting a reminder that change and forgiveness are possible.

Your move, fedora.


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In a year characterized by racial injustice, political polarization and economic uncertainty, not to mention an ongoing pandemic, it's going to take a lot more than a motivational poster of a sunrise to inspire the world toward unity. For genuine change to occur, we need to move past platitudes, and rekindle compassion through community and conversation.

Recognizing this global need, Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) launched the Forgiveness Forum, a new series of timely virtual conversations set to kick off on December 16, 2020. The events will explore how forgiveness can be used as a tool for personal growth and global healing by not only clarifying how forgiveness and justice — two seemingly disparate processes — can exist side by side, but also looking at the surprising science behind the physical and mental health benefits that forgiveness holds.

Right out of the gate, the Forum has secured a powerful line-up with The Elders, an exemplary group of politicians, peacemakers, and influencers who model forgiveness and work together for peace, justice and human rights. Speakers for the inaugural event will include three members of The Elders:

  • Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize
  • Zeid Raad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Jordanian Ambassador to the United States.

"Forgiveness and reconciliation are fundamental to the process of peace making and peace building," says President Santos.


"As the leader of a country that experienced tremendous suffering through conflict for many years, I know the importance of finding common ground and shared goals with those you have profoundly disagreed with. Only then can one consider true justice and hope for a better future." President Robinson agrees. "The power of forgiveness is so important to overcoming the challenges we face in a polarized world."

Forum Chair Andrew Serazin, President of TWCF, will guide the conversation alongside Moderator Zain Verjee, a world-renowned journalist and former CNN anchor. "One of the things that is so fascinating about this body of work," says Serazin, "is that forgiveness is a process that has universal resonance. Around the world, everyone has a perspective on or experience with forgiveness, and at Templeton World Charity Foundation, we are interested in exploring all of those stories."

Building upon the introduction in the first session, the Forgiveness Forum will continue in 2021 with conversations on the science of forgiveness and forgiveness in pop culture, engaging the hearts and minds of philosophers and psychologists, scholars and poets, pop culture icons, athletes and scientists. Serazin says he hopes that by "this time next year we have a broad coalition of leading individuals and organizations committed to spreading the word about forgiveness."

Often, we think of forgiveness as an obligation — something you're "supposed" to do as opposed to something you want to do. But forgiveness is also something we should do for ourselves. Helping others, repairing society, healing the world — those are actually bonus side effects. The first person forgiveness heals is yourself. If you're having trouble with this time-honored practice (and we all are), an hour with the Forum is a good first step. "Our hope," says Serazin, "is that people will be open to learning more about forgiveness and consider it in their own lives."

The inaugural Forgiveness Forum event will take place at 10–11AM EST Wednesday, December 16th, 2020 on Zoom and will be open and free to anyone around the world. The event will also be live streamed via Templeton World Charity Foundation's YouTube, and embedded in the Forgiveness Forum website.

Most of us are our own worst critics. We bully ourselves when we fall short of perfection, carry around past regrets, and refuse to let ourselves off the hook for any transgressions.

Unless this cycle is stopped, it can lead to persistent self-inflicted suffering. Studies show that those who have a hard time forgiving themselves are more likely to experience heart attacks, high blood pressure, depression, and addiction.

Fred Luskin, PhD, director of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, told Prevention there are four things that are hardest for people to forgive themselves for:


  • You fail at some major life task such as making your marriage work.
  • Your actions have hurt someone else.
  • You've hurt yourself by the way you've led your life: drinking or doing something else that's self-destructive.
  • You didn't do something you thought you should, such as intervene in a family dispute or put money away so your kid can go to college.

Some of us take those bad feelings and wrap them around ourselves like a blanket of pain, instead of taking responsibility and making things right.

"Forgiveness is a tool with which we face what we've done in the past, acknowledge our mistakes, and move on. It does not mean that you condone or excuse what happened. It does not mean that you forget," says Luskin.

"There's a season for our suffering and regret. We have to have that. But the season ends; the world moves on. And we need to move on with it," Luskin adds.

Luskin has a process that can help people go from feeling wounded to grateful.

via Pixabay


1. Understand the offense and your feelings

Take another look at the four things that are hardest to forgive ourselves for and see where your behavior falls on the list. "Categorizing the offense begins the forgiveness process," he says. "It allows you to break down what you did, look at it, get a little distance, and begin healing."

Once you are able to articulate the offense and the damage it caused others, share it with a few trusted friends. Confiding in others can be a positive reminder that we all make mistakes. It also prevents you from slipping into denial.

You should also reconsider if what you did was really that bad in the first place. Sometimes we have unrealistic expectations for our own behavior which can lead to feelings of guilt when, in reality, our behavior was appropriate given the circumstances.

2. How do you want to feel?

How do you want to feel after you've found forgiveness? Luskin says you should want to get rid of the "shame, release the blame, and feel calm and whole at your center."

3. Hit stop on your thoughts and emotions

Realize that the feelings you are carrying around are what's making you feel terrible, not what you did all those days, months, or years ago. When you start ruminating on the event that brings you guilt, pause and refocus your attention on something positive.

A great way to do that is to focus on a good deed you may have done recently or how you've changed since the event took place.

Luskin also recommends trying PERT (Positive Emotion Refocusing Technique). Close your eyes, draw in a long breath, then slowly exhale as you relax your belly. Take a deep breath two more times and on the third one, create a mental image of a beautiful place in nature.

Breathe deeply as your mind explores the beauty around you, whether it's a beach, mountain top, or the calming waters of a stream. Allow the positive feelings you create to center around your heart.

For more on what science says about the benefits of forgiveness, click here.

via Pixabay


4. Apologize and make amends

Being forgiven by someone else can help us forgive ourselves. Making a sincere apology to someone affected by your actions can go a long way towards helping you heal yourself.

Next, you can try to right the wrong by making amends to the person you hurt. "Do good rather than feel bad," Luskin says.

5. Reframe your behavior

Instead of thinking about the event and casting yourself as the bad guy, look at the entirety of the situation and recast yourself as the hero. When you tell yourself the story of what happened, be sure to consider how you've overcome a failure and turned it into something good. Focus on what you've learned from going through the ordeal and give yourself credit for how you've changed.

6. Replace guilt with gratitude

Finally, replace your negative feelings of guilt with positive feelings of gratitude. Look around and appreciate all that you have, whether it's the breath in your lungs, the shoes on your feet, or the people you love in your life.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude can extinguish any lingering feelings of guilt and shame and put you back on the path of loving yourself again.

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Starbucks Upstanders Season 2

27 years ago, Debbie Baigrie was shot in the face during an attempted robbery. Her assailant was a 13-year-old boy.

Ian Manuel was the youngest of three boys who threatened Baigrie that night, but despite his age, he was the one holding the gun.

Ian Manuel in grade school. All photos provided by Starbucks.


"I heard from behind, 'I’m serious, give it up,'" Baigrie recalls.

As she turned around to look at Manuel, he accidentally fired.

She felt an awful pain shoot through her face and saw one of her teeth land on the ground. The terrified boys took off, and Baigrie managed to run back to the restaurant where she had just eaten dinner to get help.

Later she learned all the teeth on the bottom left side of her mouth had been blown out. If the gun had been pointed slightly higher, she would've suffered a traumatic brain injury. All things considered, she was very lucky.

A few days later, Manuel was arrested for riding in a stolen car, and he immediately admitted he was the one who shot Baigrie.

Baigrie didn't learn her shooter was only 13 until she read about his arrest in the paper.

"I’m like 13?! There’s no way a 13-year-old kid shot me. He’s just a child," Baigrie says.

Debbie Baigrie.

Even so, Manuel was charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, and attempted armed robbery as an adult. The maximum sentence was life in prison.

His mother and lawyer urged him to plead guilty in order to get his sentence cut, but the judge was determined to make an example of him and gave him life without parole.

Baigrie could not believe it.  "The punishment didn’t match the crime."

Two weeks before his 14th birthday, Manuel started serving his sentence. A year into it, around Christmas, he decided to reach out to Baigrie.

The first thing he said to her was, "Miss Baigrie, I called to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. And to apologize, you know, for shooting you in the face."

Needless to say, it was a difficult conversation. Manuel asked if he could continue it by writing her letters, and she said yes.

One of Manuel's letters to Baigrie.

Over the next 15 years, the two corresponded regularly and struck up an unlikely friendship.

Baigrie was impressed by Manuel's writing abilities, which seemed to her to far exceed the abilities of a 13-year-old of his background. He also sent her his report card from prison school to show her how well he was doing. She encouraged him to keep improving himself, despite his circumstances.

While she doesn't recall saying or writing it, she eventually forgave him and did what she could to remind him there was someone outside who cares.

The exterior of the Equal Justice Initiative.

Aside from Baigrie, Manuel also wrote letters to civil rights groups in hopes that one would take up his case. In 2006, one finally responded.

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) told him they were interested in challenging the constitutionality of life sentences without parole for children. They had recently won a similar case to save a minor from the death sentence, so they thought they had a good shot.

It took four years for EJI's case to reach the Supreme Court, but sure enough, the judges ruled in their favor.

Seven years later, after the same judge who first sentenced him to life re-sentenced him despite Baigrie's support, Manuel won his freedom.

"I told the judge me and Debbie have been waiting for years for the judicial system to catch up to my remorse and her forgiveness," Manuel recalls.

After 26 years in prison, 18 of which were spent in solitary confinement, he was released, and his first meal as a free man was pizza with Baigrie.

Manuel's first night of freedom with Baigrie.

The EJI then helped Manuel get a Social Security card and an apartment and even offered him a job in their offices. It was a major leg up, but he still had a lot to learn, having never been an adult out in the world.

Thankfully he had people like Baigrie supporting him along the way.

"I see Ian for who he is," Baigrie says. "I’m not saying he wasn’t responsible for his actions, but when you’re 13, you should be given the opportunity to change, to grow."

Remorse and forgiveness saved Manuel on so many levels and brought Baigrie peace.

Few stories more clearly prove that human connection has power — sometimes enough to right the egregious wrongs of the past.  

Watch Manuel and Baigrie's whole story here: