Whatever Happened to Forgiveness?

I guess I have to say this. I'm getting discourage these days about something. Whatever happened to "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you?". I suppose both concepts are dying in this world and it is really discouraging me. I'm even seeing the attitude with bronies on this site.

Perhaps one good example is the hatred of Starlight's forgiveness by Twilight, when Twilight was the only person really hurt by her actions. Forgiving her, instead of holding a grudge or... I don't know what people want, killing her I suppose, is seen as Twilight being naive or stupid. Have you never been forgiven yourself? I don't mean to offend, truly I don't, but I have to ask, what happened to saying "I will let it go"? Yes, I believe there are times when disagreements between people become so bad or abuses become so frequent that forgiveness becomes foolish. But MLP is supposed to be an uplifting series, not a grim reminder of how bad things can get. Not every thief needs to be shot. Not even every terrorist needs to die. You don't have to like the episode, but please stop calling forgiveness stupid.

Here's a more real life example. I was hit by a truck and received minor injuries and had to stay in the hospital. The total medical bill for the examinations done on me, the ambulance ride and the stay in the hospital somehow came out to 15,000 dollars. The person who hit me called the ambulance, stuck around to see that I was okay, even though I was unconscious, paid the bills without a fight from their insurance and did not do anything to try to discredit me in any way. When asked how much pain and suffering I wanted to take from them, I asked back if I could take none. Those counseling me legally told me that was a nice gesture, but it would serve to scare the other legal team more then help anyone, so I was advised that if I wanted to do as little damage as possible, I should take the minimum pain and suffering and call it good. I did so. I have been repeatedly called stupid and naive for not taking the highest I could get from them for a FUCKING CLEAR ACCIDENT!

That was over ten years ago, I can only imagine how things are now, but needless to say, if anyone watches the news, I'm not encouraged by what I see. Justice is so far beyond eye for an eye in it's cold calculation and heartless execution these days, that I'm sure Moses himself would start to call our criminals victims. Fathers stolen from their families for simple drug crimes, kids put in penitentiaries for first offenses, companies sued for millions for accidents no one could have prevented, mark my word, this kind of behavior is what is truly desensitizing us, not shooting lifeless pixels on a screen in a video game. These are real people we're putting away and hurting while convincing ourselves it's in the name of something sacred like justice. To Christians like myself, if Jehovah believed in that kind of justice we would all be destroyed when we died, if the world itself were not simply burned to make way for another new one. Not a single one of you deserves the mercy society tells you deny, so maybe think about that. I'm not saying to forgive the husband who constantly beats his wife and never stops, shoot that bastard. But the boy who lashed out at a class mate at sixteen in a moment of having too much, maybe we give him treatment, instead of hard time and let him go, not forcing him to talk to every potential employer about it for the next decade, trying to explain the actions of his sixteen year old self, when he is now 25.

If you let things go, good, keep it up, life is too short to always hold grudges. If every times someone brings up forgiveness, your mind goes to the woman who constantly forgives her husband for breaking her bones even after he's done it fifteen times, maybe ask yourself why your mind travels to extremes like that. There's a difference between forgiveness and mercy, which is mature and wise, helping to create good relationships between people, and allowing yourself to be a punching bag. Yes, it can often be a fine line, but it is worth keeping around. Again remember, if you don't think you have ever needed forgiveness... fuck it, that's cause you're just an arrogant fool.