Christmas day is a good time to forgive
Merry Christmas. Every year I bore mine with the same stuff, I get to tell them that this is the only religious festival I like, after all, it’s a birthday. Although that statement is not so exact, because, to be an irredeemable atheist, I love to celebrate Saint Michael’s Day as well. It will be that I am convenient and accommodating. When Passion Week comes and the Stations of the Cross take away my solidarity and I prefer it on the beach.
A wonderful way to celebrate these holidays is to take advantage of the spirit that prevails and that, as a catalyst or as a softener of hearts, makes us all a little predisposed to receive and give affection. It is that Christmas breath, that sweet whiff that floats in the air and that allows us to hug our nosy brother-in-law between nougats or toast with the dullest cousin, wish the boss well at the office or even pick up the phone and make those calls that they were postponed from the last mentioned or the last bittersweet meeting. My father used to do it and, in part, I inherited the custom from him. I like to call my friends these days and use Christmas greetings to take an interest in their health and that of their close families, their plans, their dreams and ask them to feel that I think of them, therefore, I love them. Many of those calls or those messages should start with a release, with a sincere apology that opens the way, even when in our hearts we are the ones who feel hurt or deserving of that apology.
In my opinion, forgiveness has to go hand in hand with forgetting. If it is not done like this, it is not true. It is true that many times we forgive because we no longer care about the other, but even so, forgetting is essential to heal our wound; above the healing of the other. That damage that they did to us, that which hurt so much, if it is forgiven, it has to be forgotten. If it stays inside it will continue hammering the hurt heart and one day, for some foolishness, it will appear again. That is resentment and it fits into forgiven matters that have not been forgotten. Forgiving and forgetting is very difficult, it requires an enormous capacity for love and a privileged intellect. It is not for nothing that scientists have already shown that kindness is the highest point of intelligence. It is known that pardon coupled with its corresponding purpose of amendment exalts the one who asks for it and the one who grants it, it is clear that for the forgiven everything is an exercise in falsehood if he does not make the effort not to offend again. If we are not willing to rectify, ask for forgiveness and be forgiven, it is of no use. The beauty lies in forgiving and knowing how to ask for forgiveness, but trying by all means so that, from now on, you don’t have to ask for forgiveness again, at least for the same fault.
Forgetting requires a much greater interior fulfillment, and it is a tangible proof of love, because it forces the wound to self-heal even before the offender has had time to demonstrate his intention to redeem himself. Those of us who have dogs know that no one forgets a wrong so easily, which is why they are the best of friends and, to some extent, little companion angels in our lives.
Now that the year is about to end, today that the world celebrates Christmas in the midst of the same hatred, the same troubles and the same wars, that the atmosphere is muddy in the recurring crises and that tomorrow the spirit of Santa Claus will have been forgotten and that of the Child God and we will go back to screwing and bothering each other. In a fit of foolish optimism, of sweet and stubborn naivety, it seems to me that it is time for balances and memories, therefore, I take advantage of this text of forgiveness to ask all those who may have felt offended by any act on my part, from word, deed or omission. Already in my faults of thought only I can forgive myself. Happy Holidays.
