Learning to Forgive - Crucial for Life

Amelia Gonzales, staff writer

Learning to Forgive: The Most Crucial Element in Life

For those of you who have never met me or had the opportunity to speak with me, you might consider me to be that quiet girl in the corner. I am everything but that.

I can and may be the ultimately opinionated person you have ever met. I can go on and on about topics that either, I know a lot about or even topics I know very little about. My voice and my opinions are all that I have that identify me as an individual as they do everyone else.

Unfortunately the topic that I have the most opinionated statements on I am struggling to deal with at this moment in time. This would be the topic of forgiveness.

On a personal note, for the past year I have awakened to the thought that tomorrow I might not have everyone I love so dearly in my life ever again. In the entirety of my 25 years I have never dealt with the loss of a loved one. For the first time I had to find myself sitting at my grandfather’s bedside wondering how I could ever have taken advantage of not speaking to him when it was possible.

There have been issues in families, as there have been in mine, where we as individuals hold a strong element of anger. My grandfather and I never really had the opportunity to find that anger let alone a sense of peace in our relationship. I held anger in my heart for things that pertained in my family rather than he and I did as individuals. Still, that anger would be the basis for our relationship for the past several years.

I have struggled with the decision on wither or not to leave that anger out of my relationship with my grandfather and find peace with him for an extensive amount of time. Fortunately, I have had that opportunity to do so. That opportunity came at a time when he and the rest of my family heard the devastating news that he had cancer, which was now terminal. The news pounded a hard reality check that if I wanted to create any peace with him now would be the only time to do so. Though, now I have to struggle with my loss, I am at peace with knowing in the end he and I both knew how much we really loved and cared for one another.

I have dealt with many life experiences that I have found myself searching for decisions on whether or not to forgive and forget those whom I would see as enemies and most importantly those whom I love. There is this book called the Bible that many of us have based our whole lives around. Why then would so many forget one of the most important elements in its teaching of turning the other cheek or forgiving your enemies as God has forgiven us?

This to me is the ultimate teaching that society may never find an answer for. This so called forgiveness issue may not be of any importance for many. The heartache and the never ending lack of  forgiveness within ones self will be a haunting reminder how someone spends the last days with those that they love.

 I had the opportunity to find forgiveness and for many that forgiveness will never come. If I can give one piece of advice, it would be to never take advantage of those who are around. Reality is that those people can be ripped away from us at anytime in our lives.

Yes, I am perceived as a quiet person but as many can see I seek for a lot more than I speak. If this article brings anything to readers, I hope that it brings what I wish for and can never get back.