It took me awhile to write this entry. Not because I could not think of something to write, but due to the fact that there is so much to write. I really put a lot of thought into the word forgiveness. It is a word with a very simple meaning. Yet, it is a word with a lot of  complexity. Everyone can possess it. However, so few really do. It is free for the taking. Sadly, billions of dollars and millions of lives have been sacrificed due to the lack of forgiveness.As I think about the word, I realize that it is two things. It is an emotion and it is an action. I think we all feel it at times in our lives. We all need it many times in our lives. It is free for the taking and just as free for the giving.The problem is that we are all so stingy with it. We want it in huge amounts, but give it out in trickles.

As I look back on my life, I think of so many things that I regret. I want others to forgive me for the things that I have done or not done. When I seek to go and get someones bit of forgiveness, I feel a huge lump in the throat. My breathing becomes rapid. The air feels heavy. The silly thing is, I am only seeking forgiveness, a free comodity. It seems easier to ask someone for money. Just think of all the wrongs that can be set straight by handing out some of this free comodity.

There are a lot of other free things in life that we readily latch onto. They are things like greed, selfishness,regret,animosity,anger,and resentment. These are emotions and actions too. We seem to grab onto these things and we are real quick to give them away. Just look around. It is easy to see. Turn on the news,pick up the newspaper. It is all around. For some odd reason it is becoming fashionable to have the mean mug.It all does not make a whole lot of sense. I think a lot of it boils down to the fact that we first have to learn to exercise forgiveness with ourselves.

"If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless."
-Mahatma Gandhi."

Many times the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. Next is the ones that are closest to us. We have to learn to take action to forgive ourselves and those close to us. I think that forgiveness is much like lifting weights. The more you do it, the stronger you get. As hard as it seems, I think we have to try it. Try to forgive someone who has really done you wrong. It is not easy. Society expects you to get even. If you forgive then the popular notion may be that the other person won. We can't have that. We cannot let others defeat us, canwe? It really is hard. It calls for a whole new mind set. It seems that young children are pretty good at it. They can have a disagreement one minute and are skipping arm in arm together the next. We so called adults tend to harbor grudges and try to devise ways to get even or get over.

"The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
-Alden Nowlan."

I think I am going to try to do things alittle differently. I am going to try to forgive myself and others. I am going to try to ask for forgiveness from those I have done wrong (boy do I have a lot of work in front of me). I think the giving is going to be easier than the asking. Lets try. If only for one week. Give it (forgiveness) away in droves. Set it free and see if it comes back. I think it will. I think it will come back in bigger quantities than we can give it. To be honest, it is going to be real hard for me. 

I am tired of having animosity, anger,regret,selfishness, and resentment as my constant companions. I am tired of the the grudges and trying to get even and get over. They have not served me well. I am going to get up and seek forgiveness from my family and give it to them in bunches.

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.
-Madame Dorothée Deluzy."