Forgiveness - what's the point? The guy on the other end of the line seemed annoyed. He knew a lot about computers. I didn't, and my computer wasn't working. I needed help, but he wasn't being very nice. You know what it's like when you're already feeling dumb and somebody makes you feel even dumber? Awful, right? That's how I was feeling. Even though we eventually fixed my computer, it still made me mad the next day when I remembered the way he'd treated me. A couple of times the idea came to forgive him. But I thought I could deal with my feelings without having to forgive. I was wrong. Here are some ways I tried that didn't work: 1. Making excuses. I put myself in the computer guy's shoes. "Maybe he'd had a bad day," I told myself. "Maybe he was tired." I could think of lots of reasons why he might have acted the way he did. But I was still mad. I didn't want an excuse. I still thought he should have been nicer. 2. Telling myself it didn't matter. Since I would never meet this guy in person - or even have any contact with him again - it didn't seem important that I forgive. "It's not like he'll ever know if I've forgiven him or not," I told myself. "So what's the point?" But, I realized, I would know. 3. Not thinking about it. This will solve the problem, I decided. "If I just