Forgiveness

There is an interesting saying about forgiveness; "Forgive and forget" and I like to add another one, "Forgive, but don’t forget"s. These two sayings seem to be opposite and different; the first one is all positive, but the second one seems opposite. It means that we should forgive people who did something wrong, but also to consider it a lesson, so as not to do it ourselves. It makes sense, doesn’t it? People like to forget things easily, so for this reason, possibly, they do the wrong thing again and again. They should learn each lesson and keep each in mind; they should not repeat the wrong action, but do the good action instead. Forgiveness itself is a good action, for we all know that we are imperfect, so we all need a second chance, or opportunity. Forgiveness is a fantastic thing to cultivate and put into practice in life. There is a story, which gives a good example of forgiveness. Here is the story:

There once lived a sage, who was kind and forgiving. One night, when he was writing a letter in his hut , he looked up and saw that a thief had opportunistically entered his hut. He looked at the thief and said, "What have you come for? What do you want?" This sage was so innocent and kind that even the thief couldn’t lie to him. So he said, "I have come to steal something." The sage said, "There in that corner I have got a few rupees. You can take them", and then he started to write his letter again.

The thief took the money and was trying to leave when the sage said, "Stop! When somebody gives you something you should thank him! The money may not be of much help, but thanking a person will go a long way and will be of help to you. So thank me!" The thief thanked him and disappeared into the dark.

Later on the thief was caught, and it was discovered that he had been to this sage’s hut, so the sage was called to the court. The sage said, "Yes, I know this man, but he has never stolen anything from me. I gave him some rupees and he thanked me for them. It is finished. That was not a crime, was it? I gave him some money and he thanked me for it. He is not a thief!" Due to the forgiveness, loving-kindness and compassion of the sage, he was released without any charge. He had deep respect for the sage and for the rest of his life, he remained his follower.

The moral of this story: forgiveness is the absolute best quality that we could cultivate in life and give to one another. With forgiveness, there will be less conflict and problems in life. Due to forgiveness it is much easier for all of us to live with one another and be happy.