A Question of Forgiveness

Day 1,451, 18:54 • Published in Canada Canada • by Wally Cleaver


This morning eCanada awoke to something it has not seen since before I began playing. Something that may or may not have ever occurred in eCanada. An offer of forgiveness. Now the source of this offer is most intriguing. Rylde.

Through his comments, articles, and one-man missions against the nation, Rylde established himself as one of eCanada’s leading trolls and troublemakers. And that is why the individual who the offer is given to is most surprising. In Rylde’s article this morning, entitled Bury the Hatchet, Heal a Nation, he extends an offer of forgiveness to Rolo Tahmasee as well promises to pay half of the Gold that is required by Rolo to make restituition for his past crimes.

As almost everyone knows, Rolo Tahmasee is the notorius thief who has been credited with stealing over 5000 Gold from government organizations and has additionally been attributed as the leading cause of all that is wrong with eCanada.

Much has been made of the Rolo Tahmasee situation of late, with many, many articles being written both directly and indirectly about him and his past deeds. Some have called for further prosecution of Rolo’s more recent actions, while others have called for remorse, restitution, and reconciliation.

There is much distrust on both sides of the situation. Rolo does not trust eCanada to accept him back, does not trust the Courts not to retry him for other crimes resulting in a second similar ban, and does not trust that forum and IRC staff will follow whatever decision the Supreme Courts gives regarding lifting the ban. eCanadians, and not all but a large percentage, do not trust Rolo to honour whatever agreement is reached regarding restitution, do not trust that Rolo will not commit further crimes, and simply do not trust/believe that Rolo wants to return to the community.

It has been a stalemate as neither side is prepared to make the first step. And that is why it is so interesting that Rylde was the first to do so. Rylde has neither been aligned with the, for lack of a better word, ‘good’ side of eCanada, nor has he sided with Rolo. Rylde in his way has been on both sides and neither side at the very same time.

With his decision to offer forgiveness and assistance in restitution, Rylde has opened himself up to act as a bridge between eCanada and Rolo. The question remains however, will either side begin to cross the bridge to meet in the middle?


In a comment on Rylde’s article, Plugson writes:

"I do believe that if all eCanadians came together in forgiveness and pooled for the remaining half of the fines, we’d all be able to take part in healing the nation.”

It is tempting to disregard this as simply a buy out of eCanada morals. To expect eCanadians to assist in paying off the debt of Rolo Tahmasee, by some would be a kin to treason. To others, such as Rylde, it is a step towards healing a broken nation. Perhaps Rylde’s offer has nothing to do with Rolo. Perhaps it has everything to do with how Rylde sees the situation. Perhaps Rylde just wants to see the nation come together and take a stand that hatred and anger will no longer prevail in eCanada.

Imagine if more eCanadians decided that forgiveness and reconciliation had little to do with Rolo himself, and everything to do with themselves. Imagine a collective movement to repay the crimes of Rolo, not for Rolo but as a way to rebuild the nation.


Rebuilding eCanada has been mentioned many times of late in the media. The need to rebuild implies that something is damaged/broken. In order to rebuild one must first identify where the trouble is and correct it. In eCanada, our struggles lie largely around Rolo, but not necessarily with just Rolo himself. There is far too much hate and anger in eCanada. Far too many people want to pretend that they can rebuild all the while ignoring that Rolo exists. Based on the results thus far, ignoring Rolo’s existence only leads to more anger and more hatred.

Is it time for people to forgive Rolo? Does Rolo even want to be forgiven and return to the community? Are more Canadians, like Rylde, prepared to offer not only forgiveness but their own Gold for reconcile not only Rolo, but eCanada as a whole? Or are we doomed to repeat our past mistakes and live in a nation of hate and anger?


I encourage every eCanadian to have a look at Acacia Mason’s article regarding tomorrow afternoon’s Northern Exposure. For those who do not know, Acacia hosts a live webcast where he discusses current events as well as interviews many eCanadians. Tomorrow, Northern Exposure will be featuring a One-on-One interview with Rolo Tahmasee.

For those unable to catch the live broadcast, Acacia will certainly be uploading a streaming rebroadcast of tomorrows event.