F is for Forgiveness

When I was twenty, the idea of forgiveness was like, "Uh, what? That's bullshit!" Especially with memories of my mom accusing me of taking my sister's Hersey bar during a combined birthday party when we were around 2 and 3 years old.. Yeah, I remember that.

Today, forgiveness is a different thing to me. Forgiving others for things that irritated or bothered me is an easy thing to accomplish. I think it stems from my being able to separate forgiveness and the whole religious thing about forgiving others so that you become the better person. No, that's not why you forgive people. It doesn't make you a better person to forgive someone, it just makes you emotionally unencumbered so that you can choose a more productive life for yourself and those who will benefit from that positive energy you maintain. There are folks out there who have forgiven much more than I could ever imagine, and they do it for this very unselfish reason.

Repeat after me, "I will NOT be a better person in the eyes of God just because I forgave someone for treating me badly."

God loves everyone the same, whether they are a piece of shit or a saint. Being a better person is not the goal of forgiving. If you have that goal, then you are still hung up on retribution, and that's not a positive. The goal should be to forgive so that you are able to move forward, unencumbered by the negative feelings of bitterness and rage.

Plus, the other person is just stupid.


My List
Aging (and Apples)
Barnacle
Creativity
Destiny 
Ego 
Forgiveness  - You are HERE
Grace
Haters
IHOP 
Jealousy 
Kindness 
Lesbian 
Magnanimous 
Nostalgia
Oxymoron 
Pizza 
Questions 
Resource 
Serendipity 
Technology 
Undergraduate
Virgin 
Writing
XXX 
Yoga 

Zealot 

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