Never Forgive?

The other day I saw a bumper sticker that really struck me. No, it wasn't an anti gay marriage sticker or a pro bush sticker. The bumper sticker I saw had a picture of the twin towers with a short four word message all in caps, "NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE"

I personally believe that it is good to remember the innocent people that lost their lives to those terrorist attacks, but it was that part about forgiveness that really hit me.

To me, forgiveness doesn't mean that you forget; it means you set aside your anger.

What good does it do anyone to be angry? Especially bitterly angry? The person who is angry ends up punishing themselves much more than the person they are angry at. Anger takes a lot of energy... it is a consuming and negative emotion; worst of all it can cloud your judgment and make you irrational. You'll start to do things that are normally against your character; things you know are wrong. This is why anger is one of the seven deadly sins. Everyone feels angry from time to time, but it’s when you let it consume you that you're in real trouble.

When you're angry you might do something really unethical. For example, you might lie to your nation so that they will let you invade another nation so that you can get revenge and power over the people who allegedly wronged your people; I won't mention any names ... you know who you are.

When you're angry, you will likely look for an excuse, or rationalization for your anger and hatred. A common excuse is personal beliefs disguised as religion. Here is a good example, “These people's ancestors killed my savior; how could they do that? I hate them!" Rational thinking would immediately lead you to conclude: "That happened thousands of years ago, no one living today is responsible for that event."

Here is another good example, "The Bible says that how they feel is wrong. It says that god hates them, so I hate them!" Rational thinking would immediately remind you that the Bible also says that you should "love thy neighbor as thyself" and not, "love thy neighbor unless he doesn't believe everything that you believe."

When you let your anger take over, you won't end up at a rational conclusion, you'll long for revenge...a longing that will not end with revenge, but leave you thirsting for more and more, until you are just as bad or worst than the person(s) who allegedly wronged you.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The weak can never forgive; forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

In short, NEVER FORGETTing the people who died is much more healthy than NEVER FORGIVing.

When we refuse to forgive, we burn the bridge that we must crossover ourselves.