Forgiveness & Conciliation

It was with sadness I learnt about the death yesterday of Guillaume Depardieu, son of the French film actor Gerard Depardieu from Reuters. Guillaume had been in poor health for several years following a motorcycle crash which resulted in having his left leg amputated after contracting an infection and he died of pneumonia on Monday. Aged 37, he was something of a rebel in his younger days having battled drug addiction and admitted to sleeping with men for money.

Guillaume first served a prison sentence at the age of 17 and his parents divorced in 1996, the same year he won a Cesar film award for his role in "Les Apprentis." In a book Guillaume said his father of neglected him and put off his divorce for years for fear of how much it would cost him. "I only found out that I was going to have a half-sister on the day of her birth" Guillaume wrote. "That tells you everything. Everything. I was always presented with faits accomplish [?]. That was typical of how he behaved towards me."

Obviously I don't know the ins and outs of his parents divorce but divorce doesn't have to end like this. Attitude is everything and it strikes me there are positive life lessons children could learn through their parents' divorce if given the opportunity, such as forgiveness and conciliation.

Reference: Élisabeth Depardieu, Wikipedia