From the moment we come into this world until the moment we leave it, we’re bound to mistakes in some way. They’re usually of varying severity, depending on the person that we’ve harmed. A small white lie… a rather defamatory insult… damage to something that was precious to someone else… and sometimes, it is far, far worse… The fact of the matter is that these mistakes are bound to happen, regardless of how much we try to prevent ourselves from making it a reality.
There’s always two parties involved when incidents like these happen. When we’re in the party that caused the problem, it’s our immediate duty to apologize regardless of how deserving it is or right we might think we are. If we are the ones that were the recipients of such actions, it’s our duty to forgive those that hurt us when they apologize.
Why? Like I said earlier, we’re all prone to making mistakes. We all are sinners. It is an unfortunate trait that we as humans possess. However, something to think about is this. Is it right for us to ask for forgiveness from someone if we can’t forgive someone else for what they’ve done to us? Or is it right to be expecting an apology from someone if we are too prideful that we won’t give one ourselves? We all want to be forgiven when we’ve hurt someone and to receive an apology when we’re been hurt.
This is obviously easier said than done. I know I haven’t been so easily swayed to do one or the other as a part of either party in the past. And I know I forget sometimes as well. Again, it’s a trait of humanity. It does take time as well to do this, depending on the severity and the extent of the damage. However, it regardless of how severe it is, if someone is to apology with their full and honest heart, it is important for the other to forgive with the same kind of heart. To either with any lesser kind of heart is about the same as not doing it at all. It shows that we don’t care or love them if we don’t do it without the fullness of our heart.
But lesson learned, in our daily lives, we should keep this in mind when things like this happen. Apologize for mistakes that you make. And forgive those that have committed mistakes that affect or hurt you and apologize. And do so with an honest and whole heart. Otherwise, it’ll hypocrisy if we choose not to.