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Forgiveness...
Oct. 2nd, 2009 04:39 pmIt's Gandhi's birthday and Paula posted a few of her favourite Gandhi quotes, one of them being:
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
And this made me think. I consider myself a strong person, but my strength is probably mainly the ability to pick myself up and plod on, regardless of what's thrown at me - and I am not sure I am able to forgive. Of course this leads to the interesting question of "What is forgiveness?"
1) Is it the ability to accept that you have been wronged?
2) Is it the ability to embrace someone who has wronged you and say "It's okay, it doesn't matter" and truly mean it?
3) Is it the ability to understand why someone wronged you and based on this understanding not take it to heart?
4) Is it the ability to deliberately "forget" that you have been wronged?
5) Is it the ability to continously love someone, no-matter what they do?
Me? I never forget. Ever. But all depending on the wrong doing and the circumstances I might be able to achieve 2) and 3) - and so far I've always achieved 1), although it sometimes has been as bitter and as difficult to swallow as black bean soup.
5) I cannot. If someone keeps doing me wrong, my love towards them dies little by little with each wrong doing. This might be different if I had children, but I am not so sure about it.
I guess 2) is the essence of true forgiveness and probably the hardest to do - and I will be the first to admit that if someone does something truly terrible and horrible, then I will never be able to say "It's okay, it doesn't matter."
What is forgiveness to you? And are you able to forgive?
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
And this made me think. I consider myself a strong person, but my strength is probably mainly the ability to pick myself up and plod on, regardless of what's thrown at me - and I am not sure I am able to forgive. Of course this leads to the interesting question of "What is forgiveness?"
1) Is it the ability to accept that you have been wronged?
2) Is it the ability to embrace someone who has wronged you and say "It's okay, it doesn't matter" and truly mean it?
3) Is it the ability to understand why someone wronged you and based on this understanding not take it to heart?
4) Is it the ability to deliberately "forget" that you have been wronged?
5) Is it the ability to continously love someone, no-matter what they do?
Me? I never forget. Ever. But all depending on the wrong doing and the circumstances I might be able to achieve 2) and 3) - and so far I've always achieved 1), although it sometimes has been as bitter and as difficult to swallow as black bean soup.
5) I cannot. If someone keeps doing me wrong, my love towards them dies little by little with each wrong doing. This might be different if I had children, but I am not so sure about it.
I guess 2) is the essence of true forgiveness and probably the hardest to do - and I will be the first to admit that if someone does something truly terrible and horrible, then I will never be able to say "It's okay, it doesn't matter."
What is forgiveness to you? And are you able to forgive?
