Never Forgive, Embrace Hate Because That Feels Right
Imagine them asking for forgiveness.
If someone has cheated on you. If someone never showed up to help you. And if someone never accepted their mistakes or apologised, how could you forgive them?
No, you cannot. And you shouldn’t.
Whenever you see them, a fire ignites in your heart, which feels right.
The thought to do bad to them, keeps you focused on your day to day task. By hating them, you’re not giving them the love they can have from you.
You’re keeping them away from that luxury of feeling happiness with your hand.
You’re taking your revenge.
You’re doing what they deserve.
But what about you? Are you getting what you deserve?
Does it feel right when you meet that person face to face, and the rage disturbs your peace of mind?
How could you move forward in life with that amount of bitterness in your heart?
How could you make space for water when the pot is filled with stones already?
No, you cannot because, as the Buddha said, “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
What I think is that a furnace can only run when you stock the wood into it. It produces heat, fire, and smoke.
When you look inside the furnace, it’s all black.
No site for something bright.
If you stock it with more than enough resources, it produces fire and heat in a massive amount that only burns or melts the material and sometimes causes the furnace to catch fire or blast itself.
That’s what hate and anger do to our minds.
The hate we hold on to for others gives rise to many bitter thoughts, which create a fire-like feeling in our chests that can cause bodily damage.
Sometimes, it makes us ignore food and water and not even communicate with others.
Many times, good people, out of hatred, end up committing crimes and face the consequences, like spending their lives in jail.
However, when we forgive, we take the wood out of the furnace and let it cool.
Let it be ready for another run, which will heat the material in an appropriate amount, resulting in a needed product.
When we forgive, we free ourselves from bad thoughts and burning chests. We free ourselves to get involved in something that spreads love and kindness.
We free ourselves to create space for things that are light, not heavy.
Big George, in his initial career, used rage to achieve success.
But that success only lasted for a decade.
However, after meeting the drastic failure and realising that rage isn’t enough—or, to be more precise, that rage wasn’t needed in the first place—he chose the path of peace.
That peace helped him find faith, build a community center for youth like him, and make a great friend like Muhammad Ali, whom he had disguised earlier.
Forgiveness isn’t easy. But so does the hatred.
However, by forgiving, we give ourselves another chance to move with kindness as well as fill the pot with water only, not stones.
Think for a second. You have done a lot of wrong things for which you want redemption, either from God or the person himself. How would you feel if they forgive you?
How will you feel if they don’t?
Additionally, forgiving someone isn’t a one-time thing. It’s a long process.
It will take time to fully forgive the person who has done wrong to you. Often, it will occur to you, every time you meet that person, that you’ve done wrong.
Or you’d find it challenging to spend time with them.
But when this happens, remember that wounds take time to heal.
So, it takes time for forgiveness to cleanse your mind from bad memories and bitterness.
It takes time, but by forgiving, you’re making your mind and body ready for the time of something good.
So, what do you think? Are you going to hate forever, or give someone another chance?
Okay, not someone else, but are you ready to give yourself another chance at love and kindness? Because when you forgive others, you forgive yourself.
Therefore, never hate but forgive forever!
Amen.
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