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What I Know of Forgiveness

Those who make fun of others try in vain to reverse the damage done to them. When someone is on the receiving end of this fun, he or she learns to strike back, avoid those who mocked, or console himself with vengeful thoughts or escapism. When he or she chooses to strike back, a cycle can begin. The mocked becomes the mocker, and spreads a mindset of cynicism and defensiveness like a vector spreads a disease. On and on this cycle goes until one of these hurt ones breaks it. He breaks it when he finds a purpose into which he can invest himself wholeheartedly. She breaks it when she seeks people who help to reverse the damage for her, searching out healthy and encouraging friendships. She finds it when she begins to understand the self-same hurt in others that she herself has known; and most of all, he breaks it when faced with his own depravity, finding that forgiveness-- to borrow from Scripture-- is a debt paid in an amount far greater for himself than that which is owed to him. Especially with that mindset, forgiveness is possible.

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