Nearly every person on the earth holds a grudge or emotion inside of him or her self that tears them apart. The feeling of mistrust, hurt, and anger wrapped into one ball. This may seem all too familiar, however not one human being can deny holding one of these feelings at some point in time. Of all the diseases and illnesses this plagues all the people of the world. How much can a person forgive? This is the question that we all must ask ourselves. Forgiveness--it's a big concept and one that people don't always understand very well.
Often people say, 'just let it go', but that's not forgiveness. Forgiveness is not simply shrugging off an offense. It's not a person just letting it slide or remaining neutral when someone has wronged them. Forgiveness is far more than doing nothing. Forgiveness is not forgetting. How often it's heard, To forgive is to forget. It is humanly impossible to blot out unwanted memories at will. Forgetting has nothing to do with forgiving. Once a person has been forgiven, it's a good idea to forget, but they aren't the same. Time does not heal all wounds. A person can't just forget about what happened and hope that the episode will never return. But once they do forgive, they will, on occasion, think about what happened to them. That doesn't mean they weren't sincere or that they haven't forgiven. Forgiveness is not rationalizing why the person offended them. It's not trying to figure out why someone acted the way they did and come to some conclusion that you excuse their actions because of what you assume was their motive.
Those are the things forgiveness is not, what then is forgiveness? Webster's Dictionary says, To forgive is to give up all claim to punish or exact penalty for an offense, to cancel a debt. Forgiveness is a choice -- it's a decisive act of the person's will. It's a choice to cancel a debt from someone who still owes them that debt. It's like taking an accounts receivable book and...