(Click here for nostalgia)
Sometimes I question the popular mantra "forgive and forget". I don't think you can forget a blow so critical you thought about forgiving someone for it. Still, I do believe in giving grace. I loved that time Obama delivered an oratory on "Amazing Grace". I was moved to tears because grace is something undeserved but I never like to carry anger with me. None of us should. When you truly forgive someone for something, it's like you are setting yourself free from the injury of what they did. I know it's hard, but when it's especially hard to set yourself free, it helps to think about all the times you were at an earlier stage of your evolution and people forgave you for it.
I was discussing with a friend recently: how many times are you willing to forgive someone? As I recall she said 2, and going any further would make you into the fool. I think that's true also of many scenarios. I like to split the question down the middle, how many strikes will you forgive someone for? And how many strikes before you walk? I like to say ∞ to forgiving, to save you the trouble of lying awake at night in anguish indefinitely. However, for that last part, 2 maybe? I mean, that seems reasonable to me.