“FORGIVENESS gives you freedom and allows you to live your life peacefully,” Leila Abdallah said one year after a crash that took the lives of three of her four children.
“Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself.”
On February 1, 2020in the quiet western Sydney suburb of Oatlands, an out of control ute mounted a footpath killing four children – Antony Abdallah, 13, his sisters Angelina, 12, and Sienna, 9, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11.
The four were walking to the shops in the early evening to buy ice creams.
The children’s two families gathered on the eve of the anniversary, but instead of harsh words towards the driver, they have spoken of forgiveness – launching an annual memorial “honouring our four little saints in heaven” and urging people to reflect on the importance of relationships in their lives.
“We chose to turn our tragedy into a greater goodness. We chose to carry our cross with dignity. We chose forgiveness and love over hatred…” Ms Abdallah, a Maronite Catholic from western Sydney’s parish of Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral, said.
At the launch of I4give Day four white doves and some butterflies were released in memory of the children, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian both spoke.
Mr Morrison described the Abdallah family’s ability to forgive in the days after the accident as “breathtaking”, and he referred to the Lord’s Prayer and its message of forgiveness.
“We know (the words) by heart. We think we knew what they meant but when you have to face it, when you have to confront pain and suffering in the extreme, then you realise how truly difficult that is,” Mr Morrison told the gathering at Sydney’s Royal Botanical Gardens.
“To see someone not only say these words but live them, even in the midst of continued pain and grief, leaves me in awe.”
The driver of the vehicle has pleaded guilty to four charges of manslaughter and other offences.
Watch the Prime Minister Morrison launching I4give Day here.
A memorial will be held each year on February 1.
