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7th July, the first Friday of this month marked a day to forgive and be forgiven. Global Forgiveness Day aims to put aside differences, move beyond grievances and mark the beginning of new starts. Although, August also shares a forgiveness day, it is important to celebrate the message of both events and find it in our hearts to begin anew. 

Letting go and finding it within ourselves to forgive another -- or even ourselves -- is a difficult, tiresome and time-consuming process. It is fundamental to remember, forgiveness does not condone an offense or excuse behaviour. Relationships are not obligated to be rebuilt or reconciled. It is a voluntary, intentional affair and moving on from the physical and emotional strain of negativity is easier said than done. With forgiveness, we can grow. With forgiveness, we can love. With forgiveness, we can live. 

To celebrate forgiveness, we have asked wonderful members of the Wattpad community to describe what forgiveness means to them. We are privileged to introduce the following young authors who were willing to share their thoughts: 

zuko_42

WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?

It's not hard to say the words, 'I forgive you.' The difficulty lies in meaning it. True forgiveness, I think, comes by understanding the transgressions of the other person: why they acted the way they did, how they feel about their actions now, and acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes.

Forgiveness is important, because harbouring grudges is worse for the hater than the hated. That being said, forgiveness should not be given with too generous a hand. It is a privilege that should be earned. Giving it away too freely reduces its worth, and may encourage others to take advantage of you.

-listless

Frankie's Take On Forgiveness

For a lot of people, it's not something that's easy but it's something that's necessary. But man is it hard. Be it someone that called you a name or insulted your way of life or even something as huge as beating your kid, it's all so hard to forgive. And even harder to forget.

Forgiving has, strangely, been easy for me. I'd be angry or sad or whatever for a few hours but by the next day, I'd be over it. I don't like things that stress or anger me or make me feel anxious.

I avoid them like a plague and most of the time, it'd look like I don't care about anything. Best description of me would probably be a mash up of Tanaka-kun from Tanaka-kun is always listless and Gintoki from Gintama. Kudos to you if you know them.

So basically, I forgive so that I can be free of that stress. I don't like people having an effect on me like that so I try to not have a reason to forgive someone. When they do give me a reason, I forgive.

But I never, ever forget. I say it's hard to forgive? It's a million times harder to forget. Mess with me once? Know I'll always remember. Call it holding a grudge or whatever, I call it remembering to avoid that bullshit next time I meet someone like you.

So this is what forgiveness is to me. Forgive so much that it becomes second nature otherwise you'd become some bitter old hag but don't you dare forget. Forgetting is basically saying it's okay to hurt you and that's not cool yo."