Forgiving, Forgetting

I personally believe that people should be forgiven for things they might do that hurt others, if they truly are sorry and seek such forgiveness. Some people could care less and as such they don’t much care if they’re forgiven or not. This isn’t about them.

In my opinion, forgiving means that you truly forgive them for what they have done and you do not ever bring the matter up again. That means, should they transgress in the future, the past is not dug up and tacked on to the new transgression. It’s old news, history, forgiven, a closed issue.

Each of life’s experiences is a part of our ongoing education. If we choose to completely wipe out our memory regarding an experience, much like formatting the hard drive of a computer, we lose the benefit of what we have learned.

Forgetting someone’s transgressions does not mean we must erase our knowledge relating to these same transgressions. That knowledge is necessary so that we do not end up blindsided by a situation that could have been prevented had we applied what we have learned from the past.

Perhaps this little story will help explain it better: There was a gentleman who rode a Honda Goldwing motorcycle. Many times he would forget to put his feet on the ground to brace the motorcycle at a red light or to put the kickstand down when he stopped for fuel and the Honda would fall over on its side pinning him to the pavement.

He forgave the Honda for causing him such embarrassment but along with forgiving he also forgot what caused the Honda to fall over in the first place. Which is why he and his Honda continue to fall over in some very public places.

I believe that forgiving and forgetting should include using what we have learned to be better prepared to prevent the same thing from happening again.