Unknown Caller

by Lisa Unger

Maybe you’re still friends with people even after they hurt you, even if they keep hurting you. Because there’s something there. Something true and deep that stays even when it aches.

It’s hard to explain forgiveness to people in the throes of pain, clinging to the way things are supposed to be, should have been. Forgiveness is not saying that certain deeds are acceptable or forgotten. Forgiveness is an acknowledgment that we are all deeply flawed, and some of us make terrible mistakes or do horrible things. But to cling to rage, hatred, or grief, to rail against what is or has been, is to kill yourself again and again, rob yourself of what life you have left, what good you can still do.