The Fragility of Forgiveness

Fri, 08/07/2015 - 23:40 -- sudney

It's expected that as soon as someone wrongs you,

forgiveness must be on the tip of your tongue,

no matter the size or weight of the injustice,

and still,

it's amazing that even after so called friends have lied between the cracks of their teeth to me

or teacher with their cluttered minds and overflowing notebooks have told me

"You'll never be right.,"

the only solution left for me to persue was

forgiveness.

 

The dictionary describes the adjective "awesome" as:

"extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration..."

and to no surprise the definiton makes sense because until a few years ago,

I never understood the secret behind forgiveness.

How one could so easily distribute it as if they were rose petals from a flower girl's basket,

or share it with others as easily as splitting a loaf of bread amongst a crowd?

It all baffled me.

So I questioned forgiveness and sat it down in the interrogation room of my mind

with the lights blaring and my questions freshly printed on starch white paper.

 

Why was it so easy for the homeless man,

suffering from neglect,

to forgive the hurried and careless business man

that dashed his meager cup of coins across the concrete,

and still have no contempt in his heart?

 

Or why was it so effortless for the father of the prodigal son

to wrap his arms around him,

after he'd squandered his father's money and disgraced his family?

 

And I slowly learned

it is because

forgiveness, above all human attributes,

is awesome and impressive.

 

It is beautiful and everlasting

and the more I try to pick it apart and analyze it,

the more fascinated and intrigued I become.

 

Forgiveness is determined like the work horse,

exhausted and sweaty from its persistence, but

with its mind soley set on pulling its weight 'till the task is fulfilled.

 

Forgiveness is inspiring

because I've learned through practicing it,

that I can do anything and I can move on from the situations that constantly dimmed my

confidence to succed.

I've been taught through forgiving to be proud of the young woman I'm becoming

and a proud young woman of color at that.

 

And I've finally come to understand after the trial and error of living life,

that it is less about the fragility of forgiveness,

like I'd always believed,

but the fragility of the hearts it mends.

This poem is about: 
Me
Our world

Comments

pauljwilliams787

I really like this poem. You describe the beauty of forgiveness well, and how hard it is to wrap your head around the concept. Great job.

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