It took me years to understand and accept the difference between forgiving and forgetting. I hung on to the anger towards those who had hurt me with a passion believing that it was something I had to do.

We hear a lot about revenge, retaliation, an eye for an eye. I’m sure there some cases where forgiveness is not possible or healthy, but in most cases I’ve come to believe forgiveness is the only way to get on with your life.

It’s tough to hear someone say “so and so did such and such to me 10 years ago”. Really? Something that happened 10 years ago is still taking up your time (and who knows how much time during the past 10 years). Couldn’t that time have been spent on better things?

In the end I realized that forgiveness is for me. It frees me from anger, and allows me to focus on what matters.

But I also learned that I never forget. Someone can hurt me, but they won’t get multiple chances, nor will other people get the chance to hurt me in the same ways.

I truly believe that forgiveness is for the strong, and that it makes me stronger.

Anger is easy. Hate is easy. Forgiving is hard.