Every year 7th September is celebrated as “World Forgiveness Day”. This day is a day to forgive and be forgiven, Forgiveness Day is a chance to set things right. It means to forget someone’s bad deeds or actions and not to punish him or her for that bad deed. Sometimes, a person performs such an act which is damaging for us, hurt us, or anyone us. And when we react in response to that act, it can cause damage on both sides. For example, we fight or try to take revenge which means we do same bad deed which other person did. There will be no difference between that person and us.
Forgiveness is a virtue but the way people perceive it is quite relative. Some people think that certain actions are forgivable while others are not. Some people think that forgiveness encourages the wrongdoer to perform all kinds of wrong deeds repeatedly. Forgiveness is subjective and the act of forgiveness can have many meanings. Acceptance of apology may be forgiveness for some, while helping the other person who has hurt you to get out of the habit of ill-treatment may be a way for others. If the people who are close to you betray you or hurt you, you find it most difficult to forgive them. Sometimes the extent to which your trust is breached determines the ease or difficulty in forgiving. But it is true that the more easily we forgive, the less likely we shall suffocate ourselves keeping bad intentions for the wrongdoer. We need to feed it into our system to let go so that we do not stay annoyed and offended for long. Our grudges will only affect the relationship with the person and not hurt the other person in any way. The ability to forgive gives us a sense of freedom and makes us suffer less and feel lesser misery and pain.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
