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“There is a strength in letting bygones be bygones.”
Anybody can hold a grudge. It is a very simple and lazy thing to do. On the other hand, It takes enormous strength to let go of ego and pride to forgive someone who has truly wronged you.
The smallest child can throw a tantrum when they don’t get their way. Sometimes a sibling or friend will do something wrong, and let you take the fall for it.
Many feel that a long term grudge and vendetta to get even is not only reasonable in cases like this, but it is required to make sure a message is sent to the world that you are not one to be trifled with. This is the same kind of message like putting the head of a criminal on a pike outside a medieval castle.
Sure, kings threw tantrums too. They had tremendous power and controlled armies to punish those who offended them. The general attitude is that such kings and the similarly behaving toddlers need to learn to forgive and not create such a scene. We like to put ourselves on a pedestal, thinking we are better.
But are we? Are we forgiving others for the slights we suffer from them? Probably nine times out of ten the imagined slight was completely unnoticed by the offender. We are quick to attribute malicious intent to them when they ran over you, not thinking of you at all, and not realizing you had been affected.
The old saying comes to mind, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” It is very easy to give offence to others, but your character really shows when you can, as Ms. Swift says, “let bygones be bygones”.
Lewis B. Smedes: “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
Jeffrey K. Holbrook 
Reblogged this on lostsoulforeveralone.
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